Slayers Task Force, STF
by Relm Wanderer
Summary: My own personal creation! A futuristic A/U fic. I put it under as action/adventure and sci-fi but it's also humorous. Bias warning: Lina/Zel, Gourry/Sylphiel, Xellos/Filia, Martina/Zangulus and combos with created characters
1. STF IntroCharacter BiosPart 1

  


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Alright this is the introduction/character bios/part 1 of this fic. It's kinda long, sorry about that. ^_^;   


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## Introduction to 'STF', Slayers Task Force

By Relm

  


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Okay you know how when you go on the net searching for slayers fanfics, and you find stories that take place in different time periods? Well I've decided to make one of those. I got the idea for this story after watching the very interesting cartoon "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century." "STF" is a story that takes on a similar view of life like cartoons such as "Dirty Pair", "New Dominion Tank Police", "Patlabor", "Ghost in the Shell", "Dirty Pair Flash", "Burn Up W", and "Plastic Little." If you have never watched any of those cartoons (shame on you!) then another explanation is that my series is a police force story that takes place on earth in oh let's say 1000 or 2000 years into the future from our present time. If anything this story is more like Dirty Pair Flash or Burn Up W, in the fact that I'm going to try to make it comical (I'm not promising anything.). It's going to have the entire slayers cast give or take a few. Like I don't have Naga in the series, which I'm sorry about, but there was no real way I could fit her in. Her personality wouldn't work well with the story. Plus it includes some of my own creations. Suggestion: Make sure you have read all the character bios before reading the story. I might make reference to some things that will probably make little sense otherwise.  
  


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Okay now I'm going to get into some details of the story without giving away too much (I hope!). Like for instants in this world there is no such thing as magic and stuff. Instead I have made equivalents to normal 'Slayers' variety items, professions and stuff. For instants instead of swords I have made sonic blades. They are swords in every respect expect that they a special charge to it. For really special swords (i.e. Gourry's sword of light.) then the sonic blades have even more special attributes to it involving controlling energy and stuff. Now for stuff such as attack magic I have replaced them with special bio guns. They are called bio guns because their own power amount comes from who is using it. In this case the bullets are not metal, but laser shots. The more powerful the shooters internal energy the more powerful they can make the blast. For curing magic I have medical scanners that take special training to learn to use. Also like the bio guns a medical scanner can heal better depending on the handler's own internal power. But just as some people cannot use magic or fight with swords, I have more basic models, like an almost equivalent gun to what we use today and what not.  
  


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Now for the people, I haven't changed too much. Monsters, Dragons, Humans, Elves, Chimeras, etc, are here and have no difference in status in the population. They are all considered people so there is no discrimination in this society. For people like kings, queens and evil lords that are in the Slayers dimension, they are people in charge. They can be anywhere from politicians to world leaders. The higher people in charge in my creation happen to be some Golden Dragons, Ancient Dragons, Elves, Humans, The Monster Lords (yes like Fibrizo and Deep Sea) and whatever elected officials are elected. For people who are mayors I have guys like Phil (Yes Phil is in this story!) and other kings taking those positions. (Like Martina's dad. He's mentioned in the story, but he's not in though, so I'm not going to give him a character bio.)  
  


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Besides the wacky government what we have is an interesting law enforcement system. We first have your local PD's (Just your average every day ordinary police) and then we have the STF. STF stands for 'Slayers Task Force' and that's exactly what they are. The STF are given the tough and most of the time potentially dangerous cases that are too demanding for the regular police. (Thus like Burn Up W or our FBI or CIA, depending on how you look at it.)   
  


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The STF has its' agents divided into color divisions.  
  
Yellow: They are the research and aide. What theses people do is work in the labs of the STF buildings to research various things from viruses to heavy machinery. They are the scientists, engineers, doctors, and inventors of the STF.  
  
Gray: The office crew. These are the temps, secretaries, janitors, cooks and other various helping staff that keep the STF clean and orderly.  
  
Green: These people have the high authority of the STF. They make the big and important decisions that affect the STF. (Green agents start off as red agents.)  
  
Red: The field agents. These are the people who do the most dangerous and dirty work. Depending on your rank level, it determines on how good and experienced you are. The higher level you are the more you have done and the more dangerous assignments you are given. (Most high-leveled red agents are considered crazy and wild because they take on such high risked assignments without even caring about their lives. These people are thrill seekers with little respect for death and danger.)  
  
Orange: The trainees. These are people training to become red agents. (There are no trainees for yellow and gray because those agents' positions do not require training.)  
  
Blue: The instructors. These people were once red agents (and still are if they want to be) who evaluate and train new recruits to the STF.  
  


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Now for some of the laws in this world…  
  
Okay like the Slayers series I've made the creations of chimera's and immortality research against the law, but there are some exceptions. The immortality research is totally banned but the chimera research isn't. If you want to be a chimera scientist you have to go through this whole thing with the government and science advisory board in order to clear your experiment. Now the chances of them clearing it are very slim (usually it's only ones that involve life or death situations, i.e. Leviathan's case) so most ones aren't cleared. That doesn't stop some people though and instead they break the law in order to continue their research. Otherwise the basic rules of society are what are followed (with some little changes from time to time) and what the LPD and STF try to uphold.   


## STF Character Bios

By Relm

  


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### The Local Police Department:

  
Zelgadis: A high ranked police officer of the local police department despite his young age. Zel is a very organized efficient person who prefers order to chaos and always gets his job done. He is easily irritated, especially by his partner Gourry. Description: tall with light violet hair and blue eyes. (Yes he's human in this world.)  
  
Gourry: Zel's partner in the police force. Gourry is a dense and dumb person who lives for food. He thinks a lot of Sylphiel just because she is a good cook. Description: tall with long blond hair and blue eyes.  
  
Sylphiel: Office worker in the police department. Sylphiel does the filing and other odd jobs of the station. She's sweet tempered, kind, and shy. She also has a crush on Gourry who doesn't seem to notice. Description: tall with long blue-black hair and green eyes.  
  
Zangulus: Police officer. He and Gourry have been best friends ever since they were little and always competed with each other in things. Zangulus likes to tease people especially his partner Martina. Description: tall with long curly gray blue hair and green eyes.  
  
Martina: Zangulus' partner. Martina is clumsy and a weak individual. If it had not been for her extremely good interrogation skills and her father then she wouldn't be in the police in the first place. Martina hates getting teased by Zangulus, but no one really knows what their personal relationship is, whether or not they are friends, enemies or something else. Description: tall with shoulder length curly aqua hair and blue eyes.  
  
Rotamis: The elder and wise police chief. Rotamis always remains calm in the most stressful situations and was a pretty good cop in his day. Description: balding white hair and beard with brown eyes.  
  
Zolf: Second in command to Rotamis. Zolf has a bad temper and a strong objection to working with anyone in the STF. Description: tall with dark blue hair, mustache and green-blue eyes.  
  
  
  


### Other:

  
Phil: The city mayor and Amelia's father. Phil looks like he could pass off as an evil criminal boss but he's really an anti-violent peaceful man. A perfect person to govern a place since he's such a born leader. Description: tall and burly with black hair and mustache with blue eyes.  
  
Monster Lords: Some of the Governmental officials. How they got to be in power in a good question…  
  
  
  


### STF Agents:

  
Lina: One of the 2 youngest Lv. 9 red agents in the STF. Daring and courageous Lina tackles any assignment passed her way. She's slightly reckless, likes to flirt, and she doesn't like seeing anyone unhappy. Description: short, slim build, long red hair with blond streaks, red eyes and has 2 small scars on her face.  
  
Leviathan: The other youngest Lv. 9 red agent. Lev is Lina's twin brother who was genetically altered with water serpent dragon DNA when he was a baby to save his life. Calm and thinks rationally, Lev can keep his head in stressful situations and is a very good judge on what people are thinking. Lev has this Zen thing going for him. Description: tall with blue hair and eyes and a matching blue dragon tail.  
  
Gavin: Lv. 2 red agent. Gavin is Lina and Lev's little 13-year-old brother. He's a sweet kid who is smart, careful and thinks of others before himself. Gavin is like Lina in the respect that he doesn't like seeing anyone unhappy. Description: shorter than Lina, short dark blue-green hair with blue-green eyes.  
  
Luna: Scary STF green agent and Lina, Lev and Gavin's older sister. Bad tempered and extremely strong, Luna has the ability to make even the toughest people cry for their mommy's. Description: tall with shoulder length purple hair and darker purple streaks, and purple eyes.  
  
Blitz: STF green agent and Lina and the rest's father. One of the people in charge, Blitz is a very strong and tough guy with the ability to be scarier than Luna. Otherwise Blitz is generally a good-natured happy guy with a sometimes-bad temper. Description: tall, muscular build, brown hair with gray eyes.  
  
Faithe: STF blue agent and Blitz's wife and the mother of Lina, Luna…etc. Faithe can either be a sweet caring person or a tough bad tempered lady with the ability to be stronger than her husband. Description: tall with long blond hair and green eyes.  
  
Devon: STF blue agent and is Lina and the rests cousin. Devon is a mischievous, part elf, smooth talking, talented casanova who can get any girl that he wants but desires the one woman that he loves and doesn't dare go after, Whynn. Description: tall with dark green hair and lighter green eyes. (He normally is a chimera in my other stories, but since I'm making Zelgadis a human I've decided to make both Whynn and Devon human or part human in Devon's case.)  
  
Whynn: STF blue agent as well as yellow, Whynn trains new recruits as well as acts as STF's resident councilor. Found by the STF with amnesia when she was young, Whynn is a very sweet, caring, self-sacrificing woman who cares about everyone. She is in love with Devon who is in love with her, but neither one knows how the other feels. Description: tall with long blond hair and gray blue eyes.  
  
Amelia: STF orange agent. Amelia is a trainee that is assigned to follow Lina around so that she can learn from the experience. Justice loving, and a klutz, Amelia is the daughter of the city's mayor. Amelia wanted to join the STF so she could 'defeat evil in the name of justice' and plus she has a crush on Gavin who in turn likes her back. Description: she's Gavin's height with shoulder length black hair and blue eyes.  
  
Rezo: STF yellow agent. A little eccentric, Rezo is the head scientist that works in every section of science to do with the STF that he can get his hands into. Rezo works on anything scientific including medical and machinery. Description: tall with shoulder length purple hair and cybernetic eye implants. (Since he's normally blind I decided to let technology allow him to see.)   
  
Xellos: STF yellow agent who is a bit nuttier than his co-worker Rezo. Xellos loves to bug people especially Filia and plays practical jokes on people. Though he's an STF agent he seems to have a hidden agenda dealing and specially answers to Zellas. Description: tall with shoulder length purple hair, purple eyes and is practically always smiling.  
  
Filia: STF yellow agent, the highest ranking doctor in the medical staff that is also a Golden Dragon. A generally kind and levelheaded person, Filia throws that all out the window when Xellos is around. She can't stand him in the fact that he's so annoying and that she's forced to work with him. Description: tall blond hair, blue eyes and has a Golden Dragon's tail.   
  
  
  


### The Bad Guys:

  
Elbor Vernas: One the people whom the police and the STF are trying to catch. Vernas is a crafty individual who is an expert in biology and genetics. His crimes are unclear but he is a wanted man. Description: medium height, a little stocky, brown hair and orange eyes.  
  
Ozer: Considered to be one of the most dangerous criminals known to man. He seems to have some hidden agenda that involves Vernas' work. No on is quite sure what he is, but if anything if he's human he's only part. Description: Tall with shoulder length blue hair and one red eye and the other green.  


## STF, Slayers Task Force

### Part One, Argh! Not in the Morning!

By Relm

  


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A very loud and noisy alarm goes off in Zelgadis Greywers' apartment suite for the 3rd time. Only this time instead of pressing the snooze button, Zel actually gets up.  
  
"I really do not want to go to work today… but it's not like I can just call in sick if I do that then they will send over that nursebot to check on me again…" Zelgadis cringed at the thought of that machine. Every time a police officer is sick and cannot report in for duty the government sends in a 'nursebot' to check on them and to verify that they are really sick.   
  
Police were a demanding commodity in this day and age and the city can't afford to have their officers stay home unless they had a good reason. The demand was partly the only reason why Zelgadis was a police officer in the first place, he definitely not old enough to be one.  
  
"Oh well time to hit the pressure showers," Zelgadis said as he casually strolled to his bathroom.   
  
Taking some time to look at himself he examined his face in the mirror. His soft light violet hair despite his rough sleeping habits had fallen back into it's set position falling across one side of his face. He sighed, stripped down and got into the shower. Turning the pressure up high he let the sonic waves massaged out the tensions of waking up.  
  
Feeling refreshed Zel got into his uniform and prepared his breakfast. Deciding on toasted bagel with cream cheese and half a grapefruit he munched in down in a fast yet neat manner.   
  
His frame of mind was good and he felt very relaxed, but he didn't want to do much work, so he hoped for a slow day at the LPD as he hopped on his jet bike. With his helmet in place Zel starts up the engine and zooms by at a fast speed to work.   
  
He reaches the police station with time to spare and was surprised to see that practically everyone was there. The one person he hoped that wouldn't be there was nowhere in sight. 'Maybe Gourry's home sick… heh heh that would be nice…'  
  
Gourry was Zelgadis' jellyfish brained partner whom he didn't like that much. It wasn't that Gourry was a bad guy or anything it's just that he gets on Zelgadis' nerves quite too often.   
  
There was a slight skip to his step as he waltzed over to his desk only to be greeted by an all too familiar voice.  
  
"Hello Zelgados!"  
  
Zelgadis cringed and dared to turn his head slightly to have Gourry's dumb smiling expression staring at his back. 'Can't he ever get my name right?! For crying out loud we have been partners for over two years now!'  
  
"Gourry, I'm not even going to bother…"  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nevermind… have we had any new assignments yet?"  
  
"Assignments?"  
  
"Just forget it I'll go ask Zangulus."  
  
Zangulus was over by the water machine and was currently annoying his partner Martina.  
  
"…what do you mean by that?!"  
  
"Well I just think you could stand to get some vocal adjustments. That way you wouldn't need to be stuck in a job were you have to annoy people with your shrilly voice!"  
  
"Why you! You are seriously going to regret insulting the great Martina!"  
  
"Why are you going to sick your dad on me?"  
  
"AHHHHH!!! Why am I cursed with you?!"  
  
"Because I'm the only one who can stand your annoying voice for long periods of time."  
  
"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!?!?!"  
  
In any other place this might have seemed strange but not in the station. Zangulus liked to annoy and tease people but not as much as he loved to bug Martina. Those two fought so often that it almost looked like they were a married couple. Some people at the station thought that they were a couple while others was certain that they aren't. No one is quite sure, but everyone makes sure to stay clear of the war zone. Martina wasn't very strong but she could make your ears explode with her yelling. In fact that was the only reason she was in the police force. Martina was excellent at interrogating criminals and still no one knows why. If you ask Zangulus, his theory is that her voice and annoying personality was enough to make any criminal confess to any crime.  
  
"Um, excuse me… I'm sorry to interrupt but has there been any new assignments yet?"  
  
"Ah yeah, you, me, Martina, and Gourry were supposed to go see Rotamis when you got here. Since you're here lets go see him."  
  
Rotamis was the high commanding chief of the police station with age and respect was a very good commanding chief too. In his younger days Rotamis had been a damn good cop who could deal with any situation, and now with his age catching up with him was in a desk job assuming command of the station. The one good thing about Rotamis was that he always kept his cool in even the tensest situations.  
  
"Ah good you are all here, please come into my office."  
  
"So Chief what do you have for us today?"  
  
"Well we have been given an assignment to go arrest someone."  
  
"Who and what is his crime?"  
  
"Name, Elbor Vernas age 32, 5'7" 140 lbs stocky build, brown hair and orange eyes," Rotamis said reading his report, "His crime is another story. Apparently he has done some sort of extreme crime but it's confidential information. So we don't know why we have to arrest him, but we still have to and fast. People high up really want this guy bad you guys are going to have to be as efficient as possible."   
  
"Argh! Do we really have to do this in the morning?! I just got here!"  
  
"You didn't want to come today did you Greywers?"  
  
"He probably didn't want to face the ever so annoying Martina! I know I didn't!"  
  
"FOR THE LAST TIME SHUT UP ZANGULUS! Sir could I please request for a partner change?"  
  
"Um… well the truth is that no one else is willing to work with you…"  
  
"Have you asked Gourry? I know we could switch partners! I can be Zangulus' partner while Martina can have Gourry!"  
  
"Greywers we have gone over this before…"  
  
"Damnit…"  
  
"Anyway quit you're complaining all of you and go get Vernas! Here is what we have been able to dig up. From what our sources say there is supposed to be a meeting with Vernas and his suppliers. I want all of you to go there and apprehend him. But be careful though, Vernas has lots of hired help to guard him so watch out! Okay you guys got that?"  
  
"Yes sir!" All four said in unison.  
  
"Are you sure that was wise sir? We don't even know if that lead was a solid one." Zolf said entering the office after Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina, and Zangulus left.  
  
"Well it has to be checked out and I might as well send out my most 'energetic' group of officers."  
  
"Do you think they will get the job done?"  
  
"I don't know, but if they don't someone else will."   
  
"Sure whatever you say Chief." Zolf said while leaving Rotamis' office.  
  
Rotamis just looked at his second in commanding officer with a quizzical look. Then shrugged it off. 'I wonder what you would say Zolf if I told you who that 'someone else' is? You probably wouldn't be very happy now would you?' Rotamis just chuckled to himself quietly.  
  


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Outside the station the foursome got out their jet bikes and followed Rotamis'   
  
instructions. They ended up at what appears to be an abandoned warehouse.  
  
"Are you sure that this is the right place?"  
  
"Well according to Rotamis, this is it."  
  
Upon entering the structure they realized that it was empty.  
  
"We must have got here early."  
  
"That or we missed the meeting altogether."  
  
"I don't think it's happened yet. Let's go hide and wait."  
  
"Over here, over by these boxes, we can hide here."  
  
The other guys followed Martina's directions and waited.   
  


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A long time goes by and nothing happens. When they were just about to leave they heard a noise. Zelgadis motioned at them to be quiet and listen.  
  
"Are you sure that no one knows about this trade?"  
  
"Yeah sure boss, it's about as secret as secret can be. Besides if anyone did find out and decide to meddle with us then me and my boys can take care of it."  
  
"What about if 'she' decides to interfere?"  
  
"Then I'll deal with her myself. No little kid is going to make a monkey out of me!"   
  
Vernas and about six hard faced men come into view caring a bunch of boxes with them. Zangulus, Martina, Zelgadis and Gourry were straining very hard to hear what the new voices were saying, that is till Martina sneezed.  
  
"ACHOO! Oh shit."  
  
"Secret as secret can be huh?!"  
  
"Don't worry I'll deal with them boss!"  
  
"Way to go Martina! When it's not your voice it's your sneezing that gets us into trouble! We are so dead."  
  
"Shut up Zangulus and start shooting!"  
  
And now we have the classic shoot out. Since it was long range Gourry and Zangulus were forced to use their normal guns instead of their sonic blades, not like it was very effective anyway. The bad guys were using power-enhanced bio guns (Black market items, it's illegal to add amplifiers), more powerful then Gourry and Zangulus' little pee shooters, so that left the fight up to Zelgadis and Martina to deal with. Like Zangulus and Gourry, Martina proved to not be very helpful (she was a poor spell caster in the Slayers NEXT series and she's a poor bio gun shooter here too.) so Zelgadis was stuck doing most of the work. One versus six weren't that good of odds, especially when the six had amplified bio guns, so the fight wasn't in Zel's favor.  
  
"Damnit! Can't you guys help just a little?!" Zelgadis yelled in between gun blasts.   
  
"We would if we could Zel!"  
  
"Argh! It couldn't have just been an easy day at work could it? No I have to deal with six trigger happy criminals with the help of the most hapless bunch of LPD officers!" At this point you could see that Zelgadis wasn't in the greatest frames of mind.  
  
"Hey Zel calm down!"  
  
"Calm down?! How can I calm down?! Here we are getting our asses wiped and we will probably most certainly die and you are asking me to calm down?!" Now he was even screaming at his own friends.  
  
"Give up and we might make your death quick and painless."  
  
"I wouldn't say that if I was you."   
  
Vernas turns a pale white and looks frantically around the room.  
  
"Now how did you find out about this?!"  
  
"Well if the LPD can find about this little meeting then why can't I?" A female voice said mockingly from somewhere in the room.   
  
Whoever it was, she was making Vernas very nervous.  
  
"Why do you keep interfering with my plans?!"  
  
"I don't know, I'm just doing my job. What are you doing that so illegal?"  
  
"Just shut up!"  
  
"Ooh temper, temper! You know you should try to control that. It's not nice to blow up at people like that."  
  
Vernas just kept swinging his body around pointing his gun blindly around the room.   
  
The mystery woman just laughed at the display, her voice echoing in the abandoned building. Then she stopped and regained the serious and commanding tone in her voice.  
  
"Leave the LPD officers alone and no one gets hurt."  
  
"No way. I don't care if you are damned 'superwoman'! I'm not going to let you or anyone else ruin my plains! So I'm going to kill them and you as well!"  
  
"Bad choice in words Vernas…"   
  
All of a sudden the owner of the voice comes crashing down from the ceiling. It was a blur of red and blond hair as the woman whom Vernas had previously referred to came at him with her own bio guns. She shot all six of the hired goons before they had time to react and ran after Vernas with stealthy speed. Vernas shot at her widely missing her completely.   
  
Frustrated and very angry Vernas gave up and shot at the wall behind him to make a big enough hole for him to escape.  
  
"Hey don't you dare run you spineless coward!"  
  
Ignoring her, Vernas ran out the hole with the mysterious red and blond haired woman following him hot in pursuit.  
  
"What the hell just happened?"  
  
"Well we aren't dead that's for sure."  
  
"Who was that girl?"  
  
"I don't know but she just chased out the man we were trying to get."  
  
"I don't think we could follow them, they could be very far from here by now."  
  
"Just great. I wonder what Rotamis is going to say about this…"  
  
The four just looked around at he pile of beat up men unsure on what to do.  



	2. STF

  


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## STF, Slayers Task Force

### Part Two, Red, Blond and STF All Over

By Relm

  


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Thinking that maybe they could get the information they wanted from one of the knocked out henchmen they waited until some of them came to.   
  
"Where did Vernas go?!"   
  
"I-I-I don't know!"   
  
"You have to know something!"   
  
"Ah, honestly I don't!"   
  
"What is Vernas up to?"   
  
"I'm just a lowly hired lackey. They don't tell me nothing!   
  
"Who was that girl that chased your boss out?"   
  
"I don't know! All I know is that she's been meddling in the bosses business for a long time now. He's afraid of her."   
  
"Well I think we figured that out ourselves anyway. We are not going to get anywhere like this. Hey Zel, find anything with the bio scan?"   
  
"From what I can tell she was a STF agent…"   
  
"STF? What did this guy do to have the big guns after him?"   
  
"STF? What's the STF?"   
  
Martina, Zangulus and Zelgadis look glare at Gourry with annoyed expressions.   
  
"And Rotamis wonders why I want another partner… Tell me Gourry have you honestly forgotten who the STF are?"   
  
Gourry thought hard for a moment. That moment lasted 3 minutes.   
  
"Gourry? Well?"   
  
"Ah…..I forgot."   
  
Zangulus, Martina and Zelgadis facefault.   
  
"Well it's not like I can get a good enough scan here. I'll take a few readings to take back to the station while we take back these thugs. And when we get back I'll explain who the STF are to you again Gourry…"   
  
"You've explained it to me before?"   
  
"Yes, 7 times. I would have thought maybe by now you would have remembered it, but I guess I was wrong."   
  


* * *

  
After calling for some back up, all of Vernas' men were piled into a police van to be taken back to the station with Zelgadis, Martina, Gourry and Zangulus following close behind.   
  
Back in the station they went over to LPD's crime laboratory for some additional scans. Zolf joined them.   
  
"So you are trying some red haired STF kid chased out our guy and you guys didn't do anything?!" Zolf's tone of voiced was not a happy one.   
  
"It's not like we could have. By the time we were able to react they were already long gone."   
  
"I'm still confused, what are the STF again?"   
  
Sighing at his dumb partner, Zelgadis went into his explanation on what the STF are, again.   
  
"The STF Gourry are a special government funded group that are specially trained to deal with extreme situations. Normally the things that they are assigned to do are so suicidal that no sane person would do it."   
  
"If it's suicidal then why do they do the jobs?"   
  
Before Zelgadis could explain more Zolf quickly answered that question.   
  
"Because they don't care about human life that's why! They are just a bunch of thrill seekers that don't even give a damn about their own lives! They are all egomaniacs that think that they are superior in every way!"   
  
"Okay you are talking that a bit far Zolf… Gourry remember I said that they have special training? Well that training prepares them for suicidal missions. And they are not all egomaniacs, in fact we have worked with a few of them in the past."   
  
"We have?"   
  
"Yeah, but mostly level 2 red agents."   
  
"Level 2 red agents?   
  
"There are color denotations. Red means a field agent, orange a red agent trainee, gray an office worker, yellow are research and aide, blue are crew trainers and green are the high commanding agents. In the STF the higher the level you are the higher ranked you are in training. The higher ones get the more dangerous jobs. Since we don't get jobs that involve danger to that extreme we sometimes get some STF agents helping us out, but at a low level."   
  
"Oh," Gourry said thinking quite hard, absorbing everything Zelgadis said.   
  
"You didn't understand a word I just said did you?"   
  
"That's right."   
  
Multiple sweat drops and sighs.   
  
"Well that's Gourry for you. So Zel was does that DNA scanner say? Do we know who the STF agent was?"   
  
"Normally I could find that out, but for some reason her record is blocked off and restricted. She must be a real high-leveled red agent. I can normally get the records of red agents level 3 and below. I did manage to find out her name though."   
  
"Oh? What is it?"   
  
"Inverse, Lina Inverse."   
  
"Lina Inverse? You lost your guy because of a STF agent named Lina Inverse? What kind of a name is that?!" And thus Zolf started off back on his rantings again.   
  
"Zolf could you please give a rest for once? I know you don't like the STF but could you for once just shut up about it? Anyway, her name sounds familiar…hmm …Inverse… now where have I heard that name before? And where can I find her?"   
  
"I'm used to big criminal bosses and government officials trying to find me, but this is the first time a cute LPD officer has tried."   
  
Everyone looked back to the doorway. Leaning leisurely against the wall with her arms crossed stood a short girl with long red hair with blond streaks and red eyes. She was wearing a STF combat uniform, with STF technical goodies, and she had two very small scars on her face. She looked about 15 or 16 years old.   
  
"And just who the hell are you?!" Zolf shouted at her.   
  
"Lina Inverse, STF red agent, level 9," She said in a cool and calm voice.   
  
"Aren't you a bit young to be a level nine STF agent?" Zelgadis asked her skeptically looking her over with an intense stare.   
  
"Aren't you a bit young to be a LPD officer?" Lina said matching his stare.   
  
"Hmm… good point. So Miss Inverse, what happened with Vernas and what do you know?"   
  
"First of all, it's Lina. I wont have any of that 'Miss' crap. I'm not that old to be called that, in fact I'm one of the two youngest level nine red agents in the STF. Second Vernas had an ace up his sleeve and threw a plasma bomb at me that I almost didn't avoid. I'm lucky to be alive. And last but not least, I'll tell you what I know in about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"   
  
As soon as Lina got down to 0 a short girl with shoulder length black hair and blue eyes came stumbling through the doorway and tripped on her feet, landing on her face.   
  
"Ouch."   
  
"Well Amelia, you're late…"   
  
"I'm so sorry Miss Lina! It wont happen again!"   
  
"Amelia, now what have I told you about the Miss Lina thing?"   
  
"You told me not to call you 'Miss'.   
  
"And what do you say to that?"   
  
"I tell you that it would be disrespectful not too."   
  
"Then what do I say?"   
  
"You say that you don't care and that you are only a few years older than me and I wouldn't be being disrespectful to you by not calling you 'Miss'."   
  
"Okay if we have that all clear, then why are you still calling me 'Miss Lina'?"   
  
"…"   
  
"Oh nevermind. Well aren't you going to introduce yourself to the LDP?"   
  
"Oh sorry! Please forgive me!" Amelia gets up to a standing solder stance, "Amelia Sailune, STF orange agent, trainee."   
  
"Amelia if you tell them that you are an orange agent then they already know that you are a trainee. You don't need to say that."   
  
"But I sounds a lot more professional."   
  
"Oh for Pete's sake! We're STF agents not business people. Well we have introduced ourselves, why don't you LDP officers tell us who you guys are?"   
  
"I'm Gourry."   
  
"Martina."   
  
"Zangulus."   
  
"Zelgadis Greywers, and since he wont tell you, that's Zolf."   
  
"Interesting how you are the only one who tells me your last name… anyway Amelia do you have the record file?"   
  
"Right here!" Amelia said all bright and cheery holding the file up to her.   
  
Thrown off a bit by her perkiness Lina shakes her head at the young girl as she takes the file from Amelia.   
  
"Okay this is what we know about Vernas, he's a scientist and his crime has to do with his experiments and research. And whatever that research and experiments are, happen to be very dangerous and a threat to the world," Lina said while laying out Vernas' file on a table so everyone could see.   
  
"Is that all you STF agents know?"   
  
"Well it's a step up from you guys. And it's all we know. The STF headquarters knows all the inns and outs of the case or any STF case for that matter, but they don't ever tell the whole case details when they assign them. Personally I think that's a stupid thing to do, but hey I don't make up the rules, I just follow them."   
  
"You mean break them," Zolf said bitterly.   
  
Lina just glared at the second in commanding officer. Then turned over to Zelgadis.   
  
"Is he always like this?"   
  
"Oh yeah. Doesn't like STF agents."   
  
"I figured that."   
  
"So what are you supposed to do now?"   
  
"I was supposed to fill you guys in on what we know, which I've done already, and then we are supposed to wait for STF HQ to contact us to give us our next orders."   
  
"Do you have any idea of what they are going to be?"   
  
"Don't know, probably has to do with you guys. I can't think of any logical reason why me and Amelia would need to come here unless there was another reason."   
  
"Why don't you just contact them now?"   
  
At this point Zangulus, Martina, Zolf, Amelia and Gourry were getting bored. The conversation had turned into a Lina/Zelgadis chat, which was funny because Zelgadis isn't much of a talker. He hates chatting with people if he can help it, let only with strangers.   
  
"I'd contact them now, but I wouldn't know where to contact them at. For security reasons they have to keep on changing the voice link whenever they contact one of there agents. It also takes a while to change and realign all the frequencies like that, so that's probably what's taking them so long."   
  
"Must be pretty interesting being a STF agent…"   
  
"Well maybe you should join up with us someday. You certainly look like you are in good shape," Lina said with a crooked smile while eyeing him up and down.   
  
Lina got a very silent, blushing Zelgadis in response. Amelia stared at Lina with wide eyes. She knew Lina to be a flirt but this was the first time she'd ever seen Lina be that foreword. Usually Lina only flirted back, but never started the flirting altogether. Then Amelia looked over at Zelgadis. 'Well he is Miss Lina's type. To think for once her actually showing some real interest in a guy. Gavin is not going to believe this!' Amelia started smiling thinking of the gossip that she now had.   
  
"And just what are you smiling at Amelia?"   
  
"Uh, um, that, is, a Miss Lina-"   
  
"For the last time, it's LINA! Not 'Miss Lina', just plain Lina!"   
  
A flash and a beep came from the communicator that attached to Lina's ear. Lina presses a button and a small green screen moves in front of one of her eyes (think Dragon Ball Z with Frieza's squad of fighters' power level scanners). A little picture is displayed of a STF HQ agent on the screen that only Lina can see, but everyone else could hear what the guy said.   
  
"Officer Inverse, you need to come back to the STF HQ ASAP."   
  
"Why send us here if we have to leave right away?"   
  
"You needed to inform the officers involved with the Vernas incident with the warehouse on the case details that you know."   
  
"Why?"   
  
"They needed to be filled in so that way they will know what they are doing when they come here."   
  
"Huh? They are coming to STF headquarters?"   
  
"Yes, that is correct."   
  
"Why would you guys want to do that?"   
  
"I'm sorry I cannot divulge that information at this moment."   
  
"Doesn't the city need it's police officers? I didn't know that they could spare any."   
  
"It's all been cleared with the main police head quarters."   
  
"But you still haven't answered my question about how they can spare officers."   
  
"I cannot speak further at this time, just bring the LPD officers with you on your way over here and someone will tell you more about what you need to know. HQ out."   
  
Static sounds replaced the man's voice when the transmission ended. Lina just pushed the same button as before to retract the communications device.   
  
"What I need to know isn't always all I want to know… why do they have to be so damned secretive about everything?! Can't even answer a simple question. I'd expect them to do something like this to someone else, but to one of their own agents? It's pathetic…" Lina said shaking her head.   
  
"So we have to go to STF HQ with you now?"   
  
"It sure looks that way… Oh well come on, we'd better get a move on."   
  
And Martina, Zelgadis, Amelia, Gourry and Zangulus left following Lina leaving a very annoyed Zolf.   
  
"Thinks she can just come in here and boss everyone around like she's in charge! I hate those STF agents! They show no respect for no one!" Zolf was basically complaining to himself, he was alone, unless you counted the computers. (Relm: Well if the computers could talk I'd becha that they'd tell him to shut up, I know I would.) 


	3. STF part 3

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Three, The Wacky World of STF

By Relm

~*~

Walking outside, they all followed Lina to the parking lot. Each person got on their respective jet bike and revved up the engines, ready to go. 

"Okay follow me!" Lina yelled over the growing noise. 

Lina zoomed off on her jet bike with Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina, and Zangulus trying to catch up. None of them had expected Lina to speed off like that except Amelia who knew from past experience. 

Lina looked back and sighed. She slowed down a bit, giving the other guys time to catch up. 'I have to make sure I keep them close by or I am going to loose them.' 

With the group together they went on a twisting route around buildings all over the city. They followed Lina all thinking that she was being mad and leading them around aimlessly. That is when they started to get shot at. It was about four or five of Vernas' goons and they were armed to boot. Lina had noticed this before but rather than tell everyone she wanted to see if she could shake them herself. 

"Miss Lina, what are we going to do?" Amelia's voice could be faintly heard on the jet bike communications system. It was set so that everyone could hear her but not including the bad guys. 

"Well we have to either shake them or deal with them. We can't let them find out the location of STF headquarters. My dad would kill me!" 

"I don't think we can deal with them now. Four more just joined them and they've got some heavy artillery." Zelgadis said in a calm yet serious voice. 

"Don't worry leave this up to me!" 

"Lina what are going to do?" 

"Never you mind! Just keep going ahead at a good speed. Whatever you do don't slow down!" 

Before anyone could argue with her she cut her communications link and turned around. Everyone did as told except Zel. He stayed at a slower speed so that he could see what Lina was doing. 

At first it looked like Lina was playing chicken and was going to suddenly swerve to the right or left before she hit them. But from what Zelgadis could see it would be impossible to do it. Lina when she was about to it them turned her bike to the right so that she was at a right degree angle to them and going to hit them hard. Zelgadis sped into action and turned around just in time to see Lina's bike hits theirs and see Lina go flying from the explosion. Lina didn't hit the ground. Zelgadis caught her in his arms almost wiping out on his bike. 

Lina sat in his lap on the bike a bit startled. 

"How did you do that?" Lina yelled over the engine. 

"Lucky catch I guess." 

"Well not only do I have a new excuse to get a new bike but now I get to ride a jet bike while on a very cute LPD officers lap." 

"Yeah well um, I'm happy your hear too." Zel was blushing faintly. 

Everyone groaned. Zelgadis hadn't turned off the communications system and everyone could hear them. Lina didn't care, but this really did embarrass Zel, he was blushing all the way to the STF headquarters. 

~*~

Since Lina's bike was totaled Amelia took over with leading everyone to the headquarters. When they get there, the LPD officers are surprised. The STF headquarters is nothing more than a covered parking lot. 

"This is STF?" 

"Well not quite we still have to do one more thing." Lina said directed everyone on where to go. 

Over in a small section of a wall there's door that leads to an empty room. Once inside the room Lina touched a section of the wall and this whole electronic interface emerged from it. Typing in passwords and going through finger and eye scans the a new door opens and they go down to find a long corridor that took them down to an elevator that took them down to another electronic interface that took them … you get the picture. (This is just for security) Finally they reach the end of all this to find STF headquarters. 

"Okay was that all really necessary?" 

"I really don't think so, but the government is really paranoid. They are afraid that some terrorist might get in here." 

"Why would it be bad if someone managed to get in here?" 

"Well as well as doing dangerous field missions, STF does dangerous chemical experiments. We have things from bio weapons to cures to the common cold. But what is really got them scared is if someone gets in here and mucks around with the STF main computer system. It's the most powerful and most intelligent computer so far and it's always being improved. It has the whole worlds records on it, and is connected to everything. If you really wanted to mess up the world with computers than this would be the best place to do it. But that provided you can get through all the security we just went through and the rest leading up to the main computer." 

"You mean there's more?" 

"Yeah, but we wont have to go there. Or at least I don't think we'll have to. I wont know till we go see whoever it is that wants to see you guys." 

"You mean you don't know?" 

"No, do you remember hearing them say that so and so wants you to come back to base? No. They never tell you. I think that way you can't pretend you didn't get the message if you have to meet someone you don't like." 

"So which way do we go? This place is like a maze…" Zangulus comment as he looked around the STF headquarters. There were people everywhere, many different rooms and levels as well as a thousand different directions you could go. 

"Just follow me. We can go taking that entrance there. It's the fastest way to get to the debriefing room, but we'll have to walk through the cafeteria in order to get there." 

"You just want to snag some food don't you Miss Lina?" Amelia said with narrowed eyes. 

"What are you talking about? And would you please stop calling me 'Miss Lina' it's really getting on my nerves!" 

Amelia didn't say anything and Lina just sighed. 

~*~

If they thought the main lobby to the STF was busy they were sure in for a shock when they went to the cafeteria. It was jammed with people and they were all nosily chatting. Zelgadis, Zangulus, Gourry and Martina were afraid of getting lost in there and it didn't help matters that Lina suddenly disappeared. But she was very quickly found after she ran out of the kitchen with pots and pans being thrown at her. 

"Sure not going to eat she says…" Amelia says giving Lina a dry look. 

"Hey I never said that I wasn't going to try. I only asked you what you were talking about." 

Amelia rolled her eyes. 

"Hey Lina my love go on a date with me please!" An agent yelled to Lina as they passed by a table. 

"In your dreams." 

"Ah Lina your breaking my heart!" 

"I only wish." Lina just blew a kiss to anyone in the room as they left to go through another corridor. 

"Another corridor?!" 

"Yes, but this the last one I promise." 

Lina leads them through a door that took them into a indoor garden. What was weird about it was that it looked like they were outside. 

"This is a relaxation place were some people go to let out some tension. The designer of this room wanted to make it look as real as possible so that you actually felt like you were outside." Amelia explained. 

"Well he did a good job." 

"She actually." 

"Oh." 

~*~

After they went through the garden they were brought to another corridor. Everyone glares at Lina. 

"You said that the last one was the last one." 

"Well it is because this is were the debriefing room is. Right this way." Lina motioned to a door that lead them into a very dark room. 


	4. STF part 4

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Four, Do I Look Like a Tour Guide?

By Relm

~*~

The room was dark; there were no lights on. Lina frowned; the room was also empty. 

"Now what in the devil is up here? I was ordered to take you guys here as soon as possible to find that there is no one in the damn debriefing room!" 

"Well they probably have a good reason Miss Lina." 

"They'd better. Now lets turn on a light. Does anybody see a note or something?" Lina said while looking around. 

"You mean like this?" Zangulus held up a folded piece of paper with Lina's name clearly written on it. 

"I guess that's it. Here give to me so I can read it out loud. Okay it says, 'Lina sorry that no one was there to meet you, but you'll get debriefed later. What I need you to do is to take the LPD officers on a tour of the STF headquarters. Make sure you take them by science labs and trainee classes. Wherever else you'd like to take them is your choice. But make sure you get them to eat lunch and at about 3:00 p.m. come over to the room 32A over in the green section. I'll be expecting you.' Oh for crying out loud! I'm stuck doing tour work?! Do I look like a tour guide?!" 

"Miss Lina does it say who is asking to do this?" 

"No it doesn't Amelia. It just gives the legitimate command authorization code on it. Whoever is ordering us to do this is definitely a green agent." 

"Do you have any ideas which green agent it is?" 

"Well there is only a handful of them to start off with but I have my guesses. Oh well I'd better start my 'tour'. Where should we go first?" 

"The note did say to take them over to the trainee classes and the science labs…" 

"Nah we'll do those latter. We're in no rush; it's only 11:30 p.m. How about we take them over to the shooting range, rec room and then to the cafeteria?" 

"What about the other places?" 

"We'll do those after we eat. Okay?" 

"Yeah but let's start with the rec room first." 

"Why do you have a specific reason for wanting to go there first?" Lina said with a smug little smile. 

"Um, ah (nervous laughter) ee ah no reason at all. Why would I have a reason to want to go there?" Amelia said with a nervous smile while blushing slightly. 

"I don't know, I was just asking you if did. Alright to the rec rooms first then!" 

Lina turned around and marched off the others following behind. 

~*~

The more time the LPD officers spent in the STF the more confused. The STF headquarters looked like a madman had designed the layout of it. It was one big gigantic maze with many different levels. Only Amelia and Lina seemed to have no trouble directing them around. 

"Okay we are almost at the rec room." 

"How do you know where are going here? This place is so… so…" Zelgadis' voice trailed off. 

"Crazy? Yeah the layouts kinda weird. For the most part our new trainees spend their first three months here without having a clue where anything is." Lina said with a chuckle. 

"But then how do they find where they are going?" 

"Each new trainee is handed a little portable digital map computer. It tells you how to get from one place to another and where some places are. In fact some of our level 2 and up agents still use them." 

"What about you? I don't see you with one and you know where you are going." 

"First off all I was never given one. I've been through this complex inside and out while growing up. I know where everything and anything are here. I know each hall, the security and I also know where a good place is to take a nap without anyone noticing." 

"What Miss Lina you don't sleep when you are supposed to be working, do you?" Amelia said with wide eyes. 

"Um, no Amelia why would I do that?" Lina said to reassure the young girl and the whispered to Zel, "I do sleep from time to time, but I can't tell her that. She's a total 'rules and law must be obeyed' type of a person. So if she ever asks you if you do something illegal, play along with her or otherwise you'll get the longest most annoying speech you have ever been forced to hear." 

"I'll remember that." Zelgadis whispered back to her with a smile. 

Lina and Amelia stopped at an entrance to a double door hallway. 

"Right this way." Lina motioned down the hall and everyone proceeded down it. 

It led to another double door, this one entering into a large multi roomed gym with lots off different activities going on. In the rooms that they could see there were tennis and squash games going on, people swimming in the pool, playing basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, chess and other board games, people on exercise machines, aerobics classes, people talking, people sparing, and people going through obstacle courses. And there were other things going on in many of the other rooms that they couldn't see. 

"This is where people come to relax in the pool, hot tube or sauna, socialize with others, exercise and play sports and train for the physical evaluations for increasing their rank." 

"Wow, this is some much more than our tiny little gym we have at the LPD office." 

"Yeah well it wasn't always this big. As they do with everything in the STF headquarters they add on things to improve it. Amelia who are you looking for?" Lina said startling Amelia. 

Ever since they had came in the rec room Amelia's eyes had been scanning the room looking for someone. 

"Um, no one." Amelia blushed again. 

"Yeah sure." Lina said still with a smug smile causing Amelia to blush harder. 

"Lina why is it called the 'rec room'? It looks more like one room to me." Gourry asked while looking around the place. 

"The reason is because it used to be just one room, but as I said they are always expanding things here." 

"Why not just call them the 'rec rooms'?" 

"Because that sounds dumb? I dunno." 

Lina generally showed them around the rec room for a little while before they decided to leave and head over to their next location, the shooting range. 

~*~

Over in the shooting range, Zangulus, Gourry, Martina and Zelgadis were surprised. When Lina said 'shooting range' they were expecting this little shooting room with a few people practicing with conventional guns. First the shooting range wasn't just one room and it was both indoor and outdoor. Second there were tones of people practicing and on things such as moving targets, stationary targets and even other people. (Combat training, so that they would know what to do in a shoot out. But don't worry the ones they use doing that don't hurt people they just record how many hits you give and receive. Kinda like laser tag.) Third they weren't conventional guns. Most of them were bio guns and heavy duty ones too. Lina was going to ask them if they had any questions when she saw the stunned looks on all of their faces. 

"What were expecting teeny weenie hand guns? Come on this is the STF here! Even trainees have to learn how to use the high powered bio guns." 

They all dumbly nodded their heads in agreement. 

Being very careful not to get hit with anything, they snaked their way around the shooting range visiting each area to get a view of what everything is like and what guns the STF standardly use. 

"So Miss Lina do you think it's about time we went and took them for lunch?" Amelia said looking at her watch. It was about 12:20 p.m. 

Lina's ears perked up. 

"Food? Yeah lets go eat!" 

~*~

Instead of going at the normal pace they had been going before Lina dragged them back to the cafeteria at high speed. Much to Lina's dismay due to a recent accidental explosion the cafeteria line had closed. (Relm: Why would there be an explosion in the cafeteria? Well let's just say never let Xellos and Dr. Evil Relm have a cook off, that's bound to cause trouble.) 

"No way are we going to have to wait at a table for someone to come and take our orders?! That takes too long!" Lina groaned as she slumped into her chair. 

"I wonder who they have acting as a waiter…" 

No sooner than Amelia said that that a tall woman with shoulder length purple hair with darker purple streaks came by to their table. 

"What do you want?" She said with an icy voice. 

Lina turned her head sharply to see their waitress and started to get a panicky expression on her face. 

"Um hi, Luna. So you are doing this job huh. Um (nervous laughter)…" Lina was very pale which caused some confusion among the LPD officers. 

Zangulus whispered over to Amelia, "Hey what's up this Luna person? Why does Lina looked freaked out of her mind?" 

"It's her older sister. Believe me, if you knew Luna then you would understand." 

LPD officers just exchanged glances back and forth from each other then turned their attention back to Lina and Luna. 

"I said what do you want?" 

"Um, everything on the menu except the surprise soup." 

Everyone facefaulted. 

"You can't possibly eat that much can you Lina?" Zelgadis asked Lina. 

"Oh my little sister definitely can. But she's not going to today." 

"You're not going to force me to take on of those stupid nutrition supplement pills again are you?" 

"With the way you each you have to. Anyway with the way our family's genetics are you can't go without eating large amounts of food or you'd die. But eating so much isn't good either. So you're going to be having the supplement pill with your food." 

"Aww-" 

"Just shut up. What do you guys want?" 

~*~

After everyone gave their orders to Luna, she was off the kitchen to go get their food. From what Lina and Amelia found out Gourry has an insanely large appetite too. In fact it seemed that his was even larger than Lina (if that's actually possible) from what he ordered. Both Amelia and Lina doubted that he would be able to eat it all, but Zangulus, Martina and Zelgadis knew better than to doubt the size of Gourry's stomach. 

"So why are you afraid of your older sister Lina? She doesn't seem that bad." Zangulus asked Lina. 

"How did you know that she was my sister?" 

"Amelia told us while you were talking to her." 

"Hmm…" 

"Well?" 

"Well what?" 

"Why are you afraid of her?" 

"Why don't you ask her why? I'm pretty sure she'd show you." Lina said while rolling her eyes. 

"Somehow I don't think that would be a good idea." 

"You're right it isn't. But it's beyond me on why Luna is stuck working as a waitress. She hates people." 

"What is she normally?" 

"A very scary green agent. One time we left her with a very tough criminal to interrogate and then after just ten minutes that guy told us everything just as long as we promised to keep Luna away from him." 

"Heh, heh, sounds like you Martina." Zangulus said while nudging Martina on the side. She just hit him over the head with a nearby tray. 

"What did Luna do to the guy?" Zelgadis said while ignoring Zangulus and Martina. 

"That's the funny thing. When the guy came out he had no scratches, no cuts, no bruises, no nothing. Luna hadn't even touched him. And they were the only ones in the room and the conversation wasn't being recorded, so we have no idea." 

"Hasn't anyone tried to ask Luna what she did?" 

"Yeah my dad did. She wouldn't say though." 

"Say what?" A familiar icy voice from the side. Luna had returned with their food. 

"Ah, nothing Luna. Thanks for the food!" 

As soon as the food reached the table Lina, Amelia, Zangulus, Martina and Gourry attacked it with a feeding frenzy. Everyone was staring and Zel just sighed while blushing slightly out of embarrassment and snatched a bit of food. Luckily his arm wasn't torn off in the process. With an exception of Zelgadis they all eat like as if they had been starved for days. You'd think that Zel would be used to this sort of thing, having Gourry as a partner, but five of them? Yeah sure like you wouldn't find this odd. Luna just shook her head and walked off to serve another table. 


	5. STF part 5

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Five, It's a Family Business

By Relm

~*~

With their hunger satisfied they six of them went on route to their next destination, the personal training room. 

"Lina what's the difference between the rec room and the personal training room?" Martina asked as they walking in a rather odd looking green hallway. 

"Well I guess it does sound like they should be the same, but the personal training room's a little more serious." 

"How's that?" 

"Well in the rec room, it's just people socializing, playing sports, and minor training. You know stuff just for fun. In the training room, all that you do in there is train. It's for people who are serious about working out and getting them in better shape." 

"What types of training do they do in there?" 

"Well take a look your self it's right through there." Lina said pointing at normal looking white door with the number 345a printed on it. 

All the LPD officers just looked at each other with questioning glances. So far everything they had seen at STF had seem so weird and different, so they we expecting something a little less boring. Well they were in for a shock when they went in. 

To great them at the door when they opened it, was a large explosion. Everyone was thrown off their feet and hit up against the wall. 

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Lina screamed out into the smoke filled training room rubbing her now tender back. 

"I'm so sorry Miss Lina! I was trying to hit a target with this new bio gun off mine." 

"For gods sake Story do that sort of stuff in the shooting range!" Lina yelled at Story who had just emerged from the clearing smoke. 

"Okay I'll go. Sorry again Miss Lina." Story left the room in a hurry. (Relm: Okay if you are wondering who Story is, well if you haven't read 'Slayers Characters (Relm & Co.'s Creations') on the mainpage, well then he's just a stock character that just pops in every now and then. As of this moment I have no idea of what he looks like, so for now he'll just be bodiless.) 

"Does stuff like that usually happen Lina?" 

"Oh yes. Anyway let's go in." 

Lina lead then into the still smoky training room. To everyone's surprise there was a Olympic sized track field, 5 swimming pools, 8 weight rooms, 3 sparing rooms, 2 track and field areas, 10 exercise rooms, 3 mini shooting ranges, and 5 obstacle courses. Lina had not been kidding when she said that it was more serious in there. Besides from all the overly elaborate sections there were many people using the facilities. Each person had very solemn and determined expressions on their faces. They neither heard nor paid attention to what went on around them. It was kinda eerie; it was like they were all robots or something. After Lina gave them a good enough tour of everything in the room she lead them out in the direction of their next destination, the trainee classes. 

"So Miss Lina which class are you planning on taking them to first?" Amelia said still coughing from the lingering smoke in her lungs. 

"You mean there is more than one?" Gourry said with a confused expression. (Relm: Okay now when he is not confused?) 

"Of course there is!" Lina cut in, "You've seen how many agents we have here. There's no way we could have one class that teaches everything and everyone. There has to be at least 50 different trainee classes here." 

"We're not going to each one are we?!" 

"Nah I was thinking about maybe going to three. But the question is, which three are the closest to here?" 

"Well there is a bio gun training class in the next hallway." 

"That will be perfect! But do you know whose teaching that one right now Amelia?" 

"I haven't a clue." 

"Well then I guess we will just have to go over there and see for ourselves. I just hope it's someone who isn't grumpy. Some people get angry if you take visitors into their class while they are teaching it." 

With that Lina lead them on to one of the many bio gun trainee class that are in the building. Outside the door faint muffled voices could be heard, but they weren't loud enough for Lina to make out who it was. 'Well I guess I'll just have to knock and see who answers.' Lina thought while she sucked in her breath and knocked. The room went silent inside, and Lina and the others waited patiently for the door to be answered. The door slowly opened to reveal a tall man with short dark green hair and lighter green eyes. Lina released her breath and smiled. 

"Hey Devon! So they have you teaching the bio guns class today?" 

"Yup. Lina who are all your friends here? LPD officers?" 

"I've been instructed to give them a tour of STF headquarters." 

"You're stuck being a tour guide. Heh how funny. I guess I should introduce myself I am Devon Larle, STF blue agent." Devon flashed a bright warm smile and shook Zelgadis, Gourry and Zangulus' hands. When he got to Martina he picked up her hand and lightly kissed it. Martina blushed and smiled back at him. Zangulus got a dark storm cloud look and glared at Devon. Sensing that he was trekking on dangerous grounds, Devon let go of Martina's hand and motioned for them to come into his classroom. The classroom was filled with about 35 students. It had desks, chairs, a teacher's desk and a black board. 

Now this surprised the LPD officers. Everything up until now had been odd and overdone. This class looked just like a normal classroom. Noticing the LPD officers confusion he spoke up. 

"Okay class these are some LPD officers that are visiting the headquarters. Lina here has been instructed to give them a tour around. How about he show them our 'special' exercises?" 

The students all looked around at each other exchanging little smiles and got up and walked to a door at the back of the room. Through the door they were taken into a black room with glowing green grid patterns everywhere. The LPD officers where a bit puzzled by this. Once everyone was inside the room Devon motioned to the guns and sensor vests of the side. 

"Okay I want everyone to get their gear on. And since you LPD officers are visiting, why don't you try out this as well?" 

Zangulus, Gourry, Martina and Zelgadis all looked at each other with unsure glances. It wasn't till Lina gave them a nod of approval that they suited up with the rest of them. Even Devon, Amelia and Lina suited up as well. When everyone was ready Devon hit a few buttons on a side panel. Everything in the room changed and became a dark misty cavern maze. 

"Alright this our simulation room. We are going to play a little game of survivor. Anyone with blue vests are on one team and everyone with red vests are on the other. You must try to kill each of your opponents without getting shot. You shoot using these special standard bio guns. You don't need any special power to use them, but you can't actually hurt anyone with them. They just shot out light beams that trigger these sensors on the vest. If you are shot then you are dead. Last team standing without anyone dead is the winner. Everyone ready? Okay scramble!" 

Everyone ran off in different directions. Lina stayed with Zelgadis and Martina because they were both on their team. Soon the shooting started and people got hit and were taken out of the game. Martina went off on her own but Zelgadis and Lina stayed close to each other. The two of them worked together. Lina took care of the ones trying to shot Zelgadis, while he took care of the ones after her. No one could even get close to the two and they were both in plain site in a very bad area with no defense. Not that it mattered though, the two were both sharper than a newly serviced sonic blade. Though these simulation games were supposed to be serious, Lina was having too much fun. She smiled as she shot another trainee and looked up at Zelgadis who was smiling too. 'Man he's really good. Funny you wouldn't expect this sort of skill from just an ordinary LPD officer. He must practice a lot.' Lina shouldn't have let her mind wander, because just as she finished her thought a trainee came in and almost shot her. 

How come the trainee didn't shot her? Well Zelgadis saw this coming and grabbed Lina rolling, shooting the trainee. Lina glanced up from under Zel and looked into his eyes. He stared back blushing bright red. He was on top of her and holding her tightly in his arms. He sprang back getting off her. 

"I-I-I-I wa-wa-wa- was just making sure um ah-" 

"I know, sorry I guess I should have been paying more attention." She said smiling coyly and then lost her smile as she lunged forward knocking him down and shot the trainee behind him. 

Zelgadis was know not only blushing but wide eyed too. Lina chuckled as she looked down at the very startled Zel that she was laying on top of. Though she didn't really want to, Lina resisted the urge to comment of this. 'Well he's embarrassed enough as it is anyway. But boy he sure does look cute all startled and blushing like that.' 

Lina sprang off him and shot two more trainees. Zelgadis took this as a cue to get his act together and help Lina out. 

Soon it came down to Lina, Martina, and Zelgadis versus Devon, Zangulus and Amelia. Zangulus and Martina both did rolling motions to try to sneak in a shot the other. The both succeeded, but at the same time. Martina shot Zangulus just as Zangulus shot her. Ignoring this little event Zelgadis sneaked and shot Amelia dead. (Relm: You guy still think Zel likes Amelia? ^-^) Devon and Lina were at a standstill. Their little grudge match ended when Lina managed to shoot him down. Admitting defeat Devon ended the simulation and let everyone go back into the classroom. 

"Well Lina that was a good game, you all did very well. I'm not surprised that your team won Lina. After all I was the one who taught you." 

"You didn't teach me much Devon and can still manage to beat you. Maybe you should take some lessons from me." Lina said to Devon with a smug face. 

"Okay Miss Smartass. Anyway you guys should get a move on, I'll see you later at home Lina?" 

"Yeah sure Devon see you later." 

And Lina, Zelgadis, Amelia, Gourry, Zangulus and Martina left and headed towards another training room. 

"Um Lina what did Devon mean by 'I'll see you later at home'?" Zelgadis finally spoke ending the silence. 

"Why do you ask?" 

"Well, I , um…" 

"I think what he's trying to ask is how you two know each other." Zangulus spoke up with a smug look. 

"Oh! Yeah I guess that does sound a little bad now doesn't it? No Devon's my cousin. Though the STF is run by many people, my family was one of main groups that founded it." 

"So then a lot of your family works here?" 

"No not a lot, all of them." 

"Your whole family?" 

"Yup. In fact I think I'll take you guys to my mothers training class after we go to this one." 

"What one are we going to? And what type of stuff does your mother teach?" 

"We will be going to one that teaches generally dealings with being a STF agent. By my mother is a weedier." 

"A weedier? What do you mean by that?" Again Lina and Zel went into another one of their solo conversations. This was really making Zangulus and Martina curious. Okay maybe one little chat was not out of the norm, but all Lina and Zel was talk. This really out of character for Zelgadis. 

"She's the first person that teaches new recruits. It's her job to scare the hell out of them and weed out any of the possible weaklings." 

"Wow that rough. And you do that to all the new recruits?" 

"We have to. Being a STF agent is hard, demanding and dangerous work. We can't have just anyone do it now can we?" 

"I guess that makes sense. You have to go through evaluations if you want to be a LPD officer." 

"Yeah but those aren't as strict. In fact they seem to be getting worse by the day. The new LPD officers you guys are getting couldn't even stop a purse snatcher even if their life depended on it." 

"Yeah I don't understand why the government does it anyway. Sure we need more officers, but what is the point of having them if they can't even do anything?" 

"Well it was because of that, that I was expecting you guys to be bad." 

"And we aren't?" 

"Oh no you four are all very well trained. Especially you Zel." Lina smiled and winked at Zelgadis. His once vanished blush reappeared with a brighten glow. Everyone just chuckled as they continued walking towards Whynn's classroom. 


	6. STF part 6

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Six, Blahh! (Blame writer's block for a lack of a better part title!)

By Relm

~*~

Outside the next classroom, Lina knocked and waited patient lately. A very cheerful Whynn greeted her. 

"Why hello Lina! I heard that you taking the LPD officers around." 

"So you're teaching the general STF ed today huh? Do you mind if I take them in to sit in your class for a little while?" 

"Nope come right in." 

Whynn motioned them to come in the room. Just like Devon's classroom, plain and lacking anything special. 

"Before you arrived I was talking to the class about basic STF schedule. If you all would take a seat I will continue. Alright class these guys here with my good friend Lina are LPD officers. They have been invited here to see what we do." 

"Why?" Said one of the youthful trainees. 

"Um I don't know why exactly. Lina do you know?" 

"Hey don't look at me. I have no idea. I'm just following orders and as usual the higher ups aren't giving me a damned clue and why I have to do this. Not that I mind it too much." Lina said giving Zelgadis a wink. He adverted his eyes away from her with a small blush on his cheeks. 

"Oh well that can't be helped. Though I have no idea why the high STF officials feel the need to be so secretive. Anyway let's see now where was I? Oh yes the schedule. Once you become a STF agent or I should say if you become a STF agent you will be expected to do certain things. You have to report to HQ at your assigned shift time. If you don't then are considered late or not going to work that day. Even if you are only a few minutes late they will get angry. You are only given three days late in a year, after that you are fired and kicked out STF. In the case that does happen you cannot assign to re-register until two years after your discharge." 

"Is it harder to make it back in after you are fired?" 

"Oh yes. Since the requirements are very stiff and tough the STF hiring section is going to take your previous discharge into consideration. The STF doesn't want to hire people who are going to be unreliable and cut out to be agents." 

Whynn then went on listing other variables about being an agent including progress reports, medical exams and promotions. 

"…but you also will have to undergo psychological examinations. Being a STF agent can be very stressful and generally we try to avoid having the agents suffer from having nervous breakdowns. That's what I do. Besides crew training, I act as a councilor. If anyone has a personal problem I am one of the people that they would turn to. I help those who need counseling, and I help determine who might be suffering from excess harmful work related stress." 

Whynn pulled out a stack of papers that she handed out among the class. 

"These are the schedules for all of the councilors. If you have a problem I encourage you to go see one of them. Because sometimes just being a trainee can be the most stressful of all. Alright class dismissed." 

The whole class left the room in a stream leaving Lina, Whynn, Amelia, Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina and Zangulus in the room. 

"So how are you guys enjoying your tour so far?" Whynn said with a bright smile. 

"Well it's been very…'interesting' but from what I have seen here and what I have known in the past I've become very interested in the STF. It's a lot more serious and better organized than the police." Zelgadis spoke out his opinion with obvious admiration. 

"Well that is true, but that's only because the restrictions are much higher and the assignments more dangerous. You have to be really serious to want to do this job. But tell me where are planning on taking them next Lina?" 

"I figured I'd take them over to my moms class." 

Whynn smirked. 'Well Mrs. Inverse's class ought to be very interesting for them.' She thought back to her own experiences with Lina's mother. When Whynn had been found by the STF when she was young. Whynn had not been able to remember a thing and was very scared and lonely. It was Faithe Inverse that was kind to her and helped her become the successful woman she was today. 

"Well I hope you all have fun. I have to leave now and meet someone." 

"Oh really who?" Lina said coyly with a mischievous grin. 

"No one important. I'm just going to sort out some blue agent business with another crew trainer." 

"It wouldn't be Devon now would it?" Lina's grin broadened. 

The only response Lina got was a very deep blush forming on Whynn's face. 'Thought as much. But if those two don't get together soon, I swear I am going to go nuts!' For years Lina had grown up watching both Whynn and Devon being crazy about each other, but avoiding any revealing of true feelings. As far as the other knew, they were only friends, nothing more. Not being true this was very much irritating to those who knew them. 

"Well anyway Whynn I'll see you around. I hope you enjoy your date with Devon!" Lina called to Whynn as they went their separate ways in the hall. 

"It's not a date!" Whynn fumed, very much embarrassed. 

~*~

A few halls later Lina and the rest were outside Mrs. Inverse's classroom. 

"And if you think for a second that any wimps like you can become an agent without hard work then you have another thing coming!" A woman screamed from inside the room. 

This startled the LPDs. Even Amelia was a bit freaked out. Mrs. Inverse had scared her shitless when she first decided to become an agent. In fact Amelia was just about to quit just because of her. But of course Amelia didn't. No she was the mayor's daughter, and she was going to prove that she could do anything in the name of justice. (Relm: That and she kinda had a crush on a certain STF agent that I'm going to name right now. That's for the part seven, unless things get too long. Did you know that is supposed to be part 5 still?) 

Lina on the other hand just rolled her eyes. Her mother was notorious for her raging fits. One becomes used to so much screaming. Knocking on the door she waited with an impatient sigh. 

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Lina's mom screamed at Lina as she opened the door. 

"Well hello to you too Mom." Lina said with a dry tone. While Zelgadis and the rest of them were pushed up against the wall in fright. Lina's mother stood in the doorway still half in anger. She was tall with long blond hair and green eyes. Lina and her mother looked nothing like each other, and didn't look related one bit. (Relm: A running gag on my part. Very few people in Lina's family look like they are related to each other. It's like that whole thing with Phil and Amelia. But in my honest opinion Amelia and Phil do look related.) 

"Oh hello Lina sweety! I'm so sorry dear I didn't know it was you. So how's my sweet little girl doing today?" Faithe said sweetly with a very huge warm smile. 

(collective facefault/sweatdrop combinations) 

"I'm fine Mom. And how goes the weed whacking?" Lina said peering over at Faithe's freaked out students. A scowl appeared on Faithe's face. 

"Some arrogant idiot over there had the nerve to make a comment saying that become an STF agent is easy." 

"Heh, well that person wont get far. Anyway, Mom do you mind if me and my friends her sat in for a part of your class? I've got tour duty and I'm showing around some LPD officers that were involved in that Vernas incident that happened earlier." 

"You mean when you were almost killed by that bomb?" 

"Yup that would be the one." 

"Why are you supposed to show them around?" 

"Beats me. I was actually hoping that you could tell me." 

"Sorry hon. You might want to ask you father though. But anyway come in." 

At this point Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina and Zangulus were expecting a simple teaching room just like all the others they had seen. Well it was, only the walls were plastered with many gruesome images of death and destruction. The function of this of course was to make sure that the recruits could handle sights like that. People with a weak stomach wouldn't be very good red agents. 

"Okay now where was I?" Faithe mused trying to recall where she had left off. 

~*~

15 minutes later... 

"…so 40% of red agents in the STF die on the job. Most of them new stupid recruits that think they know everything. That's it for today." Faithe spoke to her class in a strict no nonsense tone. Her class was wide-eyed and very much freaked out of their minds. They were so wrapped up with what they were told that when the bell rang they all practically had a heart attack. They all gathered up their stuff and left the classroom in silence. Lina just shook her head. 

"Gee Mom I wonder how many of them are now going to have to take therapy after taking your class." 

"Well if they can't take a few little facts and the occasional lecture thrown at them then they have no business trying to be red agent!" 

"How many do you think are going to quit?" 

"From this class out of 24, right now? Um I'd say about 6. But I haven't got to the survival training situations yet." 

"Survival training?" Gourry said with his usually confusion. 

"Yup. You see that door at the back of the room? That leads to a simulation room. And in that room you are put into possibly dangerous situations. The purpose of this to show the class really how dangerous this job can be without having to take them out on the street." 

Amelia shuddered at the thought at that room. In there she had virtually 'died' over 20 times. She had been virtually put through every dangerous situation that a red agent could encounter. 

"But the room also serves as a testing ground for your observation skills. Okay Mom, you think 6 are going to quit today, but what about after you go through the survival training?" 

"At least 8 will quit." 

"Meaning only 10 out of 24 will actually proceed to become agents?" Zelgadis exclaimed with wide eyes. 

"Oh many quit after the various physical and psychological exams. Some quit after becoming an agent. But there are many different cases, and not all classes are the same. I've had classes where out of a class of 32 only 2 went on to be STF agents. And out of a class of 14 I one time had 13 continue on. But this class I just had aren't the strongest type. So I'm only really guessing." 

"But that's still pretty harsh…" 

"Yeah but we need to be. Hmm… I wonder how many out of you guys would make it through to become red agents if you tried. Lina what do you think?" 

"Personally I'd say they all have a good chance." 

"Oh yeah right, like whiny little clumsy Martina would have what it takes to be an STF agent." Zangulus said with a snort. 

Of course Martina took this as a cue to start to beat the living crap out of Zangulus. 

"Who do you think would be the most successful though?" Faithe asked a little awed by the harsh abuse Martina was dishing out to Zangulus. She was really pounding him. You would expect the others to help Zangulus out and stop Martina right? Did they? Nope. 

"Well from personal observation I would have to say that Zelgadis would do the best." Lina said winking at Zel again. 

"Zelgadis huh? What's your last name?" 

"Greywers." 

"Oh then I'm not surprised why you would do the best. I've heard quite a bit of stuff about you Zel." 

"From who?" 

"A few people I guess. Not really sure exactly who though. But I have heard about you before from somewhere. Well I'm only human; I can't remember everything. So I guess you guys should head out to your next destination." 

"Yeah we are heading out to the science labs next." 

"Well give my regards to Xellos." 

Lina just rolled her eyes at the mention of that nutty freak. He irritated everyone around him to the best of his ability. Zangulus was small peanuts compared to him. 

Seeing the obvious annoyance on her daughter's face Faithe laughed. 

"I'll see you later Lina. Have fun!" Faithe said waving at them as they headed down the hall towards their next destination. 

"Who this Xellos guy?" 

"Just a fruitcake." 

"Fruitcake? You guys mean you name food here?" Gourry said again missing the point. 

"Nevermind…" Lina's annoyance was increased by a factor but still they trekked on and this shall be continued in the next part of STF titled 'Mad Science!' (Relm: Yeah I know the title is lame but I couldn't resist.) 


	7. STF part 7

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Seven, Mad Science

By Relm

~*~

"Hey Amelia, why are you assigned to work with Lina and not in a classroom like most orange agents?" Gourry asked after they left the training class wing. 

"What you mean he actually remembered something?! Just how did you manage that?!" Zelgadis spoke in shock. 

"Well when Amelia said that she was an orange agent, it kinda got me thinking about oranges and I have been craving them since." 

"Food, it always comes back to food…" Zelgadis muttered under his breath. 

"To answer your question Mr. Gourry, I did go to those classes for a period of time. My dad just thought that I might benefit more from a great agent like Miss Lina if I tagged along on her missions." Amelia beamed with pride. 

"Funny, I remember hearing that you begged your dad to convince them to let you be my 'partner'." 

"(nervous laughter) Um, where did you hear a thing like that?" 

"Why would your dad be able to influence the STF anyway?" 

"Because Martina her dad is the mayor of this city. What are you too self involved to keep track of the real world?" Yet again Zangulus shooting his mouth off. 

"Why you little! GRRRR!!!" And thus the Zangulus bashing commenced. 

"Do they do this all the time?" Lina whispered to Zelgadis and Gourry. 

"As long as I have known them they have." 

"Why would they do this anyway?" 

"There are many theories floating around at the LPD station. Personally I have no clue." Zelgadis whispered as Martina gave the final blow leaving a thoroughly beaten Zangulus pancake. 

"Ouch I'm in pain…" 

"Well it's just the same since we are heading over the science labs you can get one off medics to give you a look over." 

~*~

Thus the group dragged the injured Zangulus down the main flights of stairs and the many halls leading down to the science labs. 

"The medical room is just down this hall, the last door." Lina said motioning to the said direction. As they drew nearer to their destined location sounds of things being broken and loud scream like yells could be heard. 

"Oh just great the fruitcake is here. Man I was hoping he was helping in one of the other labs today!" 

"What problem would there be if this Xellos guy was there?" 

"Just you wait and see." Lina said pushing the button on the control panel next to the door. The door automatically opened and Lina was greeted by a rather large object on a crash course for her head. Everything turned black. 

~*~

Lina opened her eyes slowly. Her head was pounding. 

"Oh I am so sorry Lina! Are you okay?" A very concerned Filia said with an apologetic expression. 

One thought processed through Lina's head. 'She feels sorry, so she was the one who hit me.' 

Now let's take a time out here. What do you think Lina would be doing in a situation like this? Hmm? Got your guess? Okay then let's get back to the story shall we? 

"ARE YOU NUTS?!" Lina screamed while hitting Filia on the head. 

"It's all that stupid rotten trashes fault! I was trying to hit him!" 

"Ah Filia-dear why don't you just fess up. We all know that you couldn't hit me. Why think about how sad you would be considering how you feel about me?" Xellos grinned like a contented cat. 

"Why you! Of all the stupid things! ARGGHHH! You are DEAD!" (And now we test the group's skills at dogging) Numerous objects went flying in many directions. Many of them much to heavy for a normal woman like Filia to be throwing. But who says Filia is normal? 

"Miss Filia would you please calm down? Mister Xellos is just trying to annoy you. By reacting this way you are giving him exactly what he wants." 

"I don't care! If he has a death wish then I'll help things through!" 

~*~

Several spats latter Lina and the gang had Filia calmed down and Xellos tied and gagged in the corner. 

"I'm so sorry about all that. Are you all okay?" Filia spoke with her usual unwavering concern and politeness. (Hey even the author is entitled to sarcasm.) 

"Filia why can't you just control your temper around him? How do you guys manage when you are treating many heavily injured patients?" 

"When we are in situations like that, that slimy frog there usually has the decency to keep his big mouth shut. I hate working with him!" Filia kicked a nearby examining table and proceeded in hurting her foot. Xellos snickered under his gag and Filia shot him a dirty look. 

"What is it that you guys do?" 

"Well I'm the head medical agent in the STF yellow department. I specialize in all sorts of fields. I act as both head biological researcher and doctor. Xellos is one of the top assistant medical agents that I'm forced to work with. If it hadn't been for his acute abilities with micro surgery and high level medical scanner use then I would be able to boot his ass out of here. But he's too valuable so I'm stuck with him." Filia almost spat out. (Relm: I know what you are thinking. Xellos, a doctor? And a good one at that? ^_^ Hey I've seen weirder things than that in many other fanfics.) 

"How can you say you don't like me when you complement me like that?" Xellos grinned as he hugged Filia from behind. What did Filia do? She screamed and Xellos went flying into a wall. 

"How did he get out of the ropes?" 

"I don't know but it doesn't look like he's getting up any time soon. Um Filia I think you hit him a bit too hard. He's not moving." 

"So?" 

"I think you really hurt him." 

Filia just eyed the unmoving form of the ever-so-annoying Xellos. He was lying on the floor on his stomach. Her face lost some of its anger. In fact she looked a bit worried if even. 'I did hit him a little hard. But he I've hit him harder than that and was fine before…' She knelt down beside him and turned him over. His face was expressionless and his eyes closed. 

"BOOOOOO!" Xellos yelled at her while opening his eyes. 

Filia screamed a fell backwards clutching her chest. 

"Damn you! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Filia screamed at him only Xellos wasn't listening. He was laughing way too hard. 

"YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!" 

~*~

"Miss Lina why is Mister Xellos coming with us?" Amelia asked Lina as they left the medical lab. 

"Because poor Filia is already fed up with that annoying Xellos so I figured that since we are heading over to the research labs we might as well take him with us." 

"But Miss Lina isn't he going to be annoying us now?" 

"Yeah but Filia has to deal with it everyday. She only deserves a break." 

"Miss Lina why do you talk about Mister Xellos like he's some sort of virus?" 

"Look at him doesn't he look like one?" 

And the said 'virus' smiled at them. Like usual his smile seemed too smug like he knew something he shouldn't. 

"So Lina where are we going next?" 

"Um let's see… I guess I should take you guys over to the main research lab." 

"My, my now isn't Lina playing the good little tour guide. Are you getting paid more for this or do you have ulterior motives?" Xellos grinned while staring in Zelgadis' generally direction. (Well would be staring, if his eyes were open.) 

Lina raised an eyebrow with a twisted smile and latched on to Zelgadis' arm. 

"Now what ever gave you that idea? But you know, if you like Filia in that way why don't you just tell her? But I bet you are afraid that if you do she'll just drop you like a rock." 

"Wha-what are you talking about?! I don't like that irritating abusive blond golden dragon at all!" 

"Then why are you blushing?" 

Lina succeeded where many had not. She had successfully managed to shut Xellos up. 'Well I've known that fruitcake for far too long for me not to be able to push a few of his buttons.' 

"And who said having Xellos around would be so bad?" Lina whispered to both Amelia and Zelgadis as she let go of Zel's arm. Amelia giggled, but Zelgadis was quiet. He was having enough trouble trying to keep the blush on his face down. 

~*~

And just when they thought they thought that they couldn't get any lower underground they went another seven floors down. And no they didn't use an elevator; it was stairs all the way down. 

"Are we going to have to take the stairs all the way back up later?" 

"No, there's an elevator that we can take down there. Why are you guys tired?" Lina looked behind her. What she found was a very tired Amelia, Gourry, Martina, Xellos and Zangulus. Zelgadis on the other hand seemed fine just like Lina. 

"Wimps. But don't worry we are almost there." 

One flight later they were at the bottom. An electronic interface awaited them. With a few clicks on a keyboard, eye scan and voice scan they were in the lab. And what a busy place it was. There were people everywhere and they were all working on something. 

"The stuff that usually down here is weapons design. Fallow me, I'll take you to meet our head yellow agent." 

"I thought Filia was the head." Zangulus asked Amelia. 

"Well no actually not. She's the head medical agent. Her research is about the body; the head yellow agent does more than just medical stuff. He's the top researcher in everything a yellow agent does." 

"Wow sounds like a pretty intelligent guy." 

"Yeah he's intelligent alright, even if he's a bit strange." 

Lina lead them over to a man with shoulder length purple hair hunched over a table working on some items that appeared to be bio guns. 

"Hey Rezo! Whatcha doing?" Lina said with a bright smile. Rezo turned around and looked at her through his cybernetic eye implants. 

"Well hello Lina how are you?" 

"Grandfather?!" Zelgadis exclaimed when he got a good look at the STF top yellow agent. 

"Oh my! Zelgadis! How good it is too see you!" 

"WHAT?! Zel he's your grandfather?" 

"Well great-grandfather actually. But Grandfather, you work for the STF?" 

"Oh yes I've worked here all my life, funny how you never found out before. But then considering how secretive the STF is I'm not surprised it's been a secret till now. But yes I have worked here a long time. How else do you think that I was able to get these eye implants? Being blind only drew me to science. I joined the STF in hopes that I could find a way to cure it. And when I did I found myself hooked and I've been addicted to science and research since then." 

"Yeah your great-grandfather is the greatest inventor that the STF has ever known." 

"Well maybe that's going a bit much but I'd like to think I'm pretty good. In fact right now I'm working on some new enhanced bio guns, only there seems to be a few problems with them." 

"Like what?" 

"Well Lina look at this gun." Rezo handed Lina one of his inventions. Right upon holding Lina loved the gun. It was a perfect size and weight and you could just tell that it could pack quite a punch. 

"Ooooh! This is such a good bio gun. What is wrong with it anyway?" Lina fiddled around with it aiming at the practice wall for new weapons. 

"Well you see it has a habit of-" 

The gun exploded in Lina's hands once she fired it. 

"Exploding when you fire it." 

"(cough) Why didn't you (cough) tell me (cough) in the first place?!" 

"I was getting around to it. Ah and this gun also has a flaw too." Rezo picked up another one. 

"This one doesn't blow up when you shoot it does it?" Lina said taking it from Rezo's hands. 

"Oh no it only has a problem with it's cooling system-" 

Lina fired it and it shoot out a nice shot right on target. 

"And it over heats when you fire it." 

"YYEEEELLLLPPPP!" Lina threw down the gun clutching her now burned hands. 

"Oh my are you alright?" 

Lina just glared at the yellow agent. 

"Do you have one that wont burn or explode on me when I fire it?" 

"Yes this one." 

Lina picked it up favoring her hurting hands and stared at it with narrowed eyes. 

"It also has a problem with it's cooling system-" 

Lina fired this gun. Like the one that burned her it was a good shot. 

"It over cools the gun when it's fired." 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lina threw this gun down too. Not because it was too hot, but too cold. It froze her hands. She grabbed Rezo by the shirt and brought him to eye level. Rezo even with cybernetic eye implants could see the anger and trying patience in her eyes. 

"Do you have a gun that will not burn me, freeze me, explode on me, or cause any other type of pain towards me?" 

"Why yes this last one." 

Lina picked it up wearily and aimed it to fire. 

"Its problem is that-" 

Lina clicked the trigger. 

"It doesn't work." 

(collective facefaults) 

"So you can see why I'm having a bit of trouble." 

Lina was very close to viciously mauling Rezo but with her eye twitching she managed to refrain from doing so. 

"So Rezo why don't you give the LPD agents here a little idea of what it is that you do?" 

"They've got you doing tour duty? My how drole. Um let's see now what do I do on a normal day? Hmm… I guess I could just give you a rundown on what I did yesterday. It all started with that incident with agent Fielding…" 

~*~

25 minutes later… 

"…and then I went home. Was that informative enough for you all?" 

All of them dumbly nodded. Rezo had talked more in detail than what they were expecting. Who knew a guy could blab on for so long? 

"Would you guys like to hear about what I did two days ago? It was an even more interesting day than yesterday." 

Lina cringed. She was sorry she had even asked in the first place. Even Xellos seemed a bit fearful that Rezo might start up another days recounting. 'This would be a great time to look at my watch and see that we have to go or we will be late. But off course I wont be that lucky.' Still Lina took a peek at her watch. Well she didn't see that she needed to leave or she would be late, she was already late. It was already 3:05! 

"HOLY SHIT! We have to leave now!" 

"Why Miss Lina it's only oh my god we have to go! I can't believe it's already past three!" 

"Why Lina where were you all supposed to be at three?" 

"Room 34A in the green section. I'm dead! It will take over fifteen minutes to get there from here and-" Lina didn't finish her sentence because they suddenly appeared in front of room 34A. 

"How did we? Damn monster! You should have told me you we going to do that! But I guess I should thank you. But anyway Xellos we have to go." 

"Alright Lina. I shall see you all another day." 

"What do you mean, 'another day'? The LPD officers are only here for today!" Lina yelled at Xellos as he walked away. But it was pointless he just phased out teleporting elsewhere. 

"Oh well I guess we should go in." 

"Um, but don't they get angry at you for being late?" 

"Yeah but it's not as severe as Whynn said. That's just tactic they use on trainees. Red agents pass level 3 are given a bit more lenience." 

"So the person wont be angry then?" 

"Oh it depends on who it is really." 

"But it's a green agent right? How are they for tardiness?" 

"Generally very brutal. Enough chat; let's go in already! I've been dying to know who set this thing up!" Lina opened the door abruptly and it slammed against the wall. A large man with cold gray eyes sat inside the room glaring at them. 


	8. STF part 8

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Eight, And The Plot Thickens… Mildly

By Relm

~*~

Everyone slowly inched their way into the room. The green agent's cold gray eyes were glued to them in a glare. He sat their motionless with a serious cold expression and didn't speak a word. 

"You're late… do you have anything to say to me?" The man finally in an icy cold voice spoke glaring at Lina right in the eyes. 

"Just one thing. HI DADDY!" 

(Facefault) 

Lina jumped into her father's arms with a gleeful smile and he gave her a great big hug. 

"How's my little girl?" He said with a big smile. 

"I'm okay Daddy. I'm sorry we're late but Rezo went over his day yesterday…" 

"Oh I see, yeah he does have a tendency to babble on. Hey Lina what's wrong with your friends?" Blitz commented looking at everybody else in the room who were all still on the floor from their facefault. (Relm: Yes the green agent was none other than Blitz Inverse, Lina's dad. Of course if you read and remembered all the information in the character bios then you probably would have guessed it before reading this part.) 

"He's your dad?" Zelgadis said in disbelief. 

"Yup. Dad this Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina and Zangulus. Guys this is my father Blitz Inverse. Isn't this terrible, he can't even tell his own daughter in person that he wanted to meet her!" 

"I'm sorry Lina, but you know how the STF works." 

"I know I know. So dad what's up anyway? Why am I stuck as a tour guide? And why am I even giving them a tour in the first place? Hmm? Or am I going to be left in the dark?!" Lina crossed her arms and glared at her father. 

"Whoa so many questions! Um well what am I allowed to tell you?" Blitz mused in mid thought. 

"What do you mean 'allowed'?! You mean you aren't going to be totally straight with me?! AHHHHHH DAD! Come on!" 

"Lina just shut up. Okay you are giving them a tour for a few different reasons. One you are one of our people signed to work on the Vernas case. So naturally we'd send you to deal with the LPDs that are also working on trying to arrest Vernas. Second since they needed to have a tour around STF HQ who would be a better choice then my own daughter? You know the STF better than a lot of people who work here." 

"But why would they need a tour in the first place?!" 

"Well they have to know their way around here when they are going to work here." 

"Yeah so- wait a minute! When they work here?!" 

"Yup. They are going to become temporary STF red agents." 

Shocked expressions all around. 

"STF red agents?! Who decided that?! You don't just decide for someone that they are going to be agents!" Lina screamed at her dad. 

"Yes I know Lina! The higher ups of the STF think that these particular LPD officers would be helpful to us in this investigation. I was assured that at least one of them will join if asked, but if none of them wanted to then we weren't going to force it." 

"So you were going to ask them?" 

"Yes. So what do you guys say? Would any of you like to become temporary STF red agents?" 

Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina and Zangulus sat there thoughtful for a moment. 

"When you say temporary, do that mean that if we do this we can leave the STF no problem after the case is over?" Zelgadis asked Blitz. 

"Yes that's right. It would only be for this case." 

"But what if after this case I wanted to still be an STF agent, could I still be one?" 

"If you would want to be one, then yes you could. Off course if you decide to join us you'll still have to go through all the necessary training." 

"Well if I can food like that for lunch working then I'm in!" Gourry said with a smile. 

(Facefault) 

"Count me in! It might be nice to challenge myself." 

"Martina you're not serious are you? You couldn't last a day as an agent! You'd get yourself killed!" 

"Oh shut up Zangulus! You don't need to be worried about me!" 

"Worried?! Why the hell would I be worried about you?!" 

"I don't know and I don't care! So just go back to the LPD and leave me alone!" 

"And just what makes you think that I'm going to back there!" 

"Well you aren't joining the STF!" 

"When do you make my decisions! I'm joining the STF!" 

"Oh so what you could protect me?! Give me a break!" 

"I'm not joining the STF because of you!" This little yelling match went on for a few minutes. Everyone just pretty much ignored Martina and Zangulus. 

"So Zelgadis, you're the last one to decide. So what is your decision?" 

"As long as you promise me one thing…" 

"What?" 

"That I wont have to be partners with Gourry." Zelgadis said with a half smile. Chuckling was his reply. 

"Okay that's all great and all, but would the higher ups want these guys as agents? And how can the LPD spare officers?" 

"I wish I could tell you… but I'm sorry Lina, I can't." 

"Damnit! Oh well… so what do we have to do now?" 

"Get them registered. But first I have to debrief you guys a bit about Vernas. Would you all please sit down around the table." Everyone sat down where Blitz instructed. The lights all went out and a holographic display appeared in the middle of the table. 

"Alright you all know that Vernas is a scientist right? Well the field of science that he specializes in is chimera research." 

"Chimera research?! But isn't that illegal?" 

"You're quite right Amelia it is. It was one of the initial reasons why he was in trouble with the law. Even though he has been stopped on his research many times, Vernas still kept going. The STF didn't know exactly what he was up to until recently." 

"You mean we're actually going to find out?" 

"No not you guys. I'm not obliged to tell you all. For now that will have to remain a secret. What I can tell you is that Vernas' work is very dangerous and an extreme threat the mankind." 

"We sort of knew that already…" 

"Yes but let me continue. About two months ago sources of ours found out that Vernas' was working with a man by the name Ozer on his research." 

Everyone gasped. Ozer was considered to be one of the world's most dangerous criminals. He was destructive and deadly and would kill large amounts of people without even a second thought. What made things worse that he was also very crafty and smart. Practically every time someone tried to arrest him they failed or were killed in the attempt. But Ozer was eventually caught. I took a lot of very talented and resourceful STF agents (most of them green agents) to catch him but he was caught and put in jail. 

"Ozer?! But he's in jail!" Lina couldn't believe what her father was saying. 

"He was, until he escaped." 

"He escaped?! When did this happen?! HOW?! AND WHY WASN'T ANYONE TOLD ABOUT THIS?! WHY WASN'T I TOLD?!" 

"No is sure how he got out. All we know is that he got out with Vernas' help. It was about 3 months ago. We never told anyone because the higher officials of the STF thought that if the public knew about his escape it would cause a panic." 

"Of course it would cause a panic! He's a damned psycho maniac! My god! And he's working with Vernas? What are they working on?" 

"An experiment. And if that experiment does go as they plan we could all be doomed." 

"Why are we chosen to do this? Isn't there more qualified agents that could deal with this better then us?" 

"I'm not sure why myself, but you aren't the only ones working on this case. Ozer is not your concern, you guys are going to be after Vernas and Vernas alone. Ozer is going to be the problem of higher officials like me." Blitz turned off the hologram display and turned back on the lights. 

"So am I supposed to leave here and pretend that I didn't hear all this?" 

"That is correct Lina. None of you must say a word to anyone about this, you all understand?" 

Everyone solemnly nodded their heads and proceeded out the door. 

"Take them to be registered now Lina. Oh and Amelia as of now I'm going to transfer you to work with someone else." 

"Bu-but-" 

"No buts Amelia. This case has gotten too serious for only a mere orange agent to observe. But after this case you can be re-assigned to work with Lina. For now I'm going to assign you to work with someone in the Lv 2 ranks. I'll let you decide who, just report on your choice." Blitz said giving Lina a wink. Amelia blushed, both Lina and her dad knew just who Amelia was going to pick. 

"So it's going to be the 5 of us then?" 

"I'm assigning Lev to work with you guys." 

"Does he know about all this?" 

"Yeah I told him four days ago." 

"What you told Lev four days ago and you tell me now?!" Lina grabbed her father by the neck. 

"Lina-sweety…" 

"Lina-sweety my ass! I never get told anything around here!" Lina fumed walking off into the hall with everyone else following. 

Lina was so angry she didn't see who she was about to bump into. 

"Ouch and just what do you think-" Lina looked over to see who she was knocked over by. 

"Nice seeing you too Lina." Gavin said bitterly rubbing his head. 

"I'm so sorry Gavin! Hey guys this my little brother Gavin. Gavin this Zelgadis, Martina, Zangulus and Gourry." 

Gavin got up smoothing out his dark green-blue hair and looked at Lina's knew friends. 

"You don't need to introduce me I already know them. Hey Zel long time no see." 

"That's why the last name Inverse sounded so familiar! Lina I've worked with your little brother a few times before on some cases." Zelgadis said giving Gavin a handshake. 

"So tell me Zel how have you found this whole thing with the STF. Interesting right?" Gavin slyly smiled. 

(Flashback) 

_"So I guess that wraps things up here. I guess I should go back and give my report back at STF HQ." Gavin sorted his pile of papers sitting down in the LPD headquarters. _

"Do you like working at STF?" Zelgadis asked the level 2 red agent. 

"Yeah it's pretty good. Probably wouldn't have gotten as far as I have if it hadn't been for my older sister." 

"You have an older sister?" 

"Two in fact. One's name is Luna. Not the nicest of people you could meet. But I'm talking about my other sister. She's really great, she's strong, smart, and talented in many ways." 

"She sounds interesting. Is she pretty?" 

Gavin grinned, "Yeah. Why thinking of wanting to meet her?" 

"Well I don't know, you think she'd like me?" 

"Not a problem. Maybe I'll introduce you to her someday." 

"Maybe." 

(End of Flashback) 

"Yeah very… 'interesting'." Zel grinned himself but he was blushing a bit too. Lina only raised an eyebrow. 

"So what are all you guys up to?" 

"I'm taking them to get registered as STF agents." 

"That's great!" 

"Yeah but poor Amelia here has to be temporarily re-assigned to someone else." Lina looked down at Amelia. 

"Oh is that so Amelia? Who are you being assigned to work with?" Gavin spoke looking at her shyly, blushing a little bit. 

"A level 2 red agent. I get to chose who. Um Gavin…?" 

"Yes Amelia?" 

"Would you mind… I mean…" 

"Would I mind what?" 

"Mind having…" 

"Yes?" 

"I think she's trying to ask you if you wouldn't mind having her as a partner for a little while." Lina said with a smug smile. 

"You would want to work with me?" Gavin was blushing as well as wide eyed. 

"Um…well… yeah. But if you don't want to I wont mind." Amelia spoke softly avoiding his dark blue-green eyes. 

(Relm: My isn't this a bit soap operaish. I bet some of you guys out there are gagging a bit at all this corny romance, but hey finding a story I write that doesn't contain romance in some form is like trying to have Death remember a message to tell someone. 

Death: Hey! That's mean! 

Relm:^_^) 

"Oh no Amelia! I wouldn't mind at all! In fact it would be very nice having you work with me." The color of Gavin's face was about equivalent to a nice ripe red tomato. 

"Okay why don't you two kids go off and get started on some on your work. I'll see you later Gavin!" Lina called out as both Amelia and Gavin left walking off both red faced and giddy. 

"So they like each other huh?" 

"Oh really I didn't notice." Lina rolled her eyes. 

"So where do we get registered?" 

"Down this hall, up three floors and through another four hallways. Shall we go?" 

~*~

They all walked were Lina instructed and were currently at the second to last hallway to the registration area. 

"So who is this Lev guy?" 

"Um well he's my-" Lina's communicator flashed and beeped. She was being messaged by someone. Lina pressed the side button and the same little green screen went in front of her eye. 

"Hey Lina this is Lev. Have you finally been debriefed on what's going on?" 

"Yeah! Why the hell are you told four days ago and I'm only now told today?!" 

"I dunno. Anyway Lina you're taking the LPDs over to be registered right? Are you close to there?" 

"About two hallways away. Why?" 

"I'll meet you there." 

"Okay Lev, we'll be there soon." 

"Bye." 

Lina retracted the device and continued on to meet Lev. 

At the registration center a tall teenager with long blue hair in a pony tail and blue eyes. What was weird about the guy was that he also had pointed ears much like he was part elf, small fangs and a matching blue dragon tail. 

"Everyone," Lina motioned at the blue haired guy, "This is my twin brother Leviathan Inverse, the person who is going to be working with us. Lev this is Zangulus, Gourry, Martina and Zelgadis." 

"Hello." Lev cheerfully smiled. (Relm: YES! I finally managed to Lev into one of my fanfics! I've wanted to do this for soooooo long know. If you are wondering, he's one of my favorite characters.) 

"Twin? But how you two be twins when he is part dragon?" 

"Oh I wasn't always like this. You see when the both of us were born Lina was perfectly healthy, though a bit smaller than your average baby, while I on the other hand was not. I was very ill and was definitely going to die. I had a disease that there is no cure for. One water serpent dragons seem to have an immunity to it. So I was genetically altered with a water serpent dragon's DNA. It did change my appearance a little bit and it gave me some interesting abilities, but it also cured of me of my disease." 

"Oh." 

"Anyway guys you'll need to go into that room over there and they'll start the registration." Lina motioned at the door to their right. 

Leaving Lina and Leviathan the four once LPD officers walked into the registration room ready to begin the roles as STF agents… 

(Relm: This is not a cliffhanger! Nothing bad is going to happen to them when they walk in the room, so please don't get annoyed with me okay? And guess what? We are finally going to day 2 in the next part! YEAH! Come on 8 #^#^$#* parts and I'm still on the first day… ) 


	9. STF part 9

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Nine, AHHHHHHH! DAY TWO! YEAH!

By Relm

~*~

Zelgadis clicked off his alarm clock as it screamed it's morning's toll stealing him away from his dream-induced heaven of sleep. He blinked cursed the morning sun, his eyes sore from its bright light. 

Yesterday had been such a busy day for him and body was suffering as a result. He was tired, very tired. The registration proved to be a lot longer than he was expecting. On top of going through interviews to find out personal information, they had to have various 'minor' physical and mental tests done. Then they all had to go through a two-hour lecture about STF. The whole procedure was at least six hours long. 

'I wonder if Gourry, Martina or Zangulus are feeling as worn out as I am?' But Zelgadis took comfort in the fact that since they were signing on to be temporary red agents they weren't going through the normal process to become an agent. So in reality they were getting it off easy, because going through the system normally is a lot more tough. That doesn't mean that they weren't going to be strict on them. Oh no they still had to follow orders or their asses would be booted out of there. 

Getting up out of his bed Zelgadis made a startling realization. He had forgot the STF trainee pack that he had been given yesterday at STF headquarters. This pack had his map of STF HQ, a list of STF rules and regulations, his calendar schedule, his new STF retractable communicator, his ID pack, and directions to STF HQ. Yeah some of those things he needed but they could easily be replaced so it wasn't a big deal that didn't have them, but it was his ID pack that he was mentally kicking himself about. For every new orange agent they are all given an ID pack. This ID pack is a little computer that can be only used by who it is assigned to that identifies an orange agent and allows him or her entrance into STF headquarters. Without this little pack a trainee couldn't enter headquarters. This wouldn't be so bad if he could just get in with Gourry or the others when they went, but an orange agent doesn't have authorization to let non-STF personal in the complex. Only blue, green, yellow or red agents could bring in a guest. 

'Shit what am I going to do?! I can't get in with anyone else and I don't have my communicator to call someone who could let me in with them…' Zelgadis grimly thought, as he got ready. It didn't matter even if he had his communicator, he didn't have authorization to call any other people than orange agents. He didn't know what he was going to do was he was going to find out someway to get around his problem. 

~*~

Zelgadis was just finishing up the last bit of his breakfast when someone rang his doorbell. 'Now who could that be?' 

Upon opening his door he found Lina grinning at him holding his trainee pack in her hands. 

"I'd expect Gourry to forget his but you? I'm a bit surprised Zelgadis…" Her grin broadened and turned mischievous. 

"Um, please come in." He was notably nervous and embarrassed too but that only made Lina smile wider. She scanned around his apartment suit with interest, but found very little to catch her attention. The living room was quite bare, it had white walls, gray carpet floors, gray furniture and it had no pictures or works of art around. Not saying that his décor was bad, it looked nice, it was just a little plain. 

Zelgadis watched her like a hawk as she walked around examining his place. He liked the way his place looked and it never bothered him before what other people thought about his decoration choices. And that's exactly what would and should be the case here, but for whatever reason he was feeling a bit defensive about his home and Lina's opinion of it. 

"Nice place you have here. It looks okay but why don't you have any pictures or anything around for extra decoration?" 

"I'm not here that often, working at the station and all. Plus a LPD's wages aren't exactly the highest in the world…" 

"So a picture frame is too expensive for you?" 

"Huh?" 

"Well it's just that you could put up a few photos you have lying around. Might not look too bad." 

"Hmm… I don't have too many photographs 'lying around'." 

"Oh come on you must have a few." 

"I never really did much with my family growing up, and with my work the only friends that I've made are other people working at the station and when I see them we are working." 

"Guess we'll just have to change that. Anyway are you coming?" 

"What?" 

"You don't want to be late for your first day as an orange agent now do you?" She flashed him a big smile. Lina didn't wait for an answer; she just went out the door. Zelgadis blinked a few times before he snapped back to reality and ran to catch up to her. 

~*~

"So Lina, do you visit every orange agent that forgets their pack?" They were walking down the hallway that lead outside of Zel's apartment building. 

"Considering the special nature of your registration into the STF and my having to work with you on this assignment I figured that maybe I should help you out. But no I don't usually do this for orange agents who forget their packs. And I have to say I'm very surprised that you forgot it yesterday. What was on your mind that day?" She teased him playfully punching him on the side. 

He blushed, mostly out of embarrassment. 'Great first impression to give them, huh Zel? A respected LPD officer like myself can't even remember to bring home a dumb pack! And yet Gourry was able to remember his!' 

Lina almost laughed at the expression on his face. You could just tell that he was kicking himself for his forgetfulness. 

"Zelgadis, it's not uncommon for a newly signed on orange agent to forget their pack on their first day. It happens to a lot of people." 

He didn't answer her, he just continued to scowl. 

"You're annoyed because Gourry didn't forget his and you did aren't you?" 

Silence. 

"Oh my god you are." 

Silence, yet again. 

"He would have forgotten his if I hadn't got Zangulus to make sure that he wouldn't forget it. And I had Martina remind Zangulus not to forget his either. Plus I was nagging on her to make sure that she didn't forget hers. I didn't bother getting anyone to remind you because I thought you would be able to remember. But I'm not surprised that you didn't. You did have a lot of stuff on your mind yesterday. Not every orange agent has that much thrown at them before they sign up." 

"…" 

This time Lina couldn't help it she started laughing. He gave her a sour smile trying to hold onto his bitterness but soon he too was laughing. 

"Alright I know, I know, I'm just being stupid about it. I shouldn't be so irritated." 

"Yeah but you have a nice laugh…" Lina hopped onto her new jet bike that was parked right in front of Zel's. 

"You just ruined your other one yesterday! They gave you a new one already?!" The jet bike was black with flames painted on it. It looked fast and it probably was considering the obvious add ons it had. Let's just say it wasn't one of your average run of the mill jet bikes. 

"No they didn't. They are going to issue me another one next week. This one is my own personal jet bike that I don't use for STF work… normally." 

"Only when you damage your work issued ones? So how many of them have you destroyed so far?" Zelgadis smugly smiled, hopping onto his own jet bike. 

"Never you mind that! Now let's roll! Oh and do try and keep up with me. If you thought I was fast yesterday prepare to have your mind blown away!" With that Lina zoomed onto the road at a dangerously high speed with Zel following close behind. 

~*~

And the two of them drove to STF headquarters like normal red agents would. Recklessly but with so much skill that no accidents happened. 

"Well I managed to keep up with you, and even with my normal jet bike." Zelgadis turned off his engine and put his jet bike into park. 

"Normal my ass! Yours is souped up as much as mine is!" Lina was close to throwing her bag at him. 

"Hello Lina. And hello again Zelgadis." Xellos stepped out his black jaguar. 

Lina glared at him with her usual accusing glare that Xellos received so very often. "'Hello again Zelgadis'? And just how did you know that he was going to be here today!" 

"Why Lina I was merely saying hello to the young chap. What harm is there in that?" 

"That's not what I was talking about! Yesterday you knew that Zel, Gourry, Zangulus and Martina were going to be here today! How?! How did you know?!" She grabbed the grinning monster by the collar shoved him against his car. 

"Now, now there Lina you really must learn to control that temper of yours." 

"They told you didn't they?!" 

"Who are you talking about? I wasn't told anything." Xellos grinned at her without even breaking his cool. 

"Why do they always tell me last? And how the hell would you find out in the first place?!" Lina could have pressed him further but she just threw him into an empty garbage can and went with Zelgadis through the first of many doors leading into STF HQ. 

"My you can never doubt Lina's observation skills or her temper either." Xellos dusted himself off. His communicator activated its' self, he was being called. 

"Xellos how is everything going so far?" A woman spoke from Xellos' communicator. 

"Everything seems to be going well. Lina seems to be getting along quite well with his grandson. But why is it so important that Lina and these people deal with Vernas? It does seem a bit odd, doesn't it?" 

"Considering what is at stake these six should do fine. But Xellos you'll need to watch out for them when the real danger starts to occur." 

"Yes Master…" Xellos' com shut it's self off, leaving him with the problem of how to explain to Filia why he was late coming into the med lab. 

~*~

"Hey Lina what time is it?" Zelgadis was a bit confused. Yesterday when he was at STF headquarters it was packed with tones of people. Currently it was almost empty. 

"We are a bit early, but the personal schedule differs every day. Today is what we call a skeleton day. Most people don't have work today except for a few. We use these days to train orange agents. But we do still have some of our higher officials here." 

"But what happens if there is an emergency?" 

"We just do what you guys would do if there was a problem and there wasn't enough people in. We call in some of our agents who are off duty. Actually with the STF you are really never off duty you just are not at HQ. Every person who isn't at assigned to work is on call and ready to be called in at any given moment. That's why most of us have jet bikes that are just as powerful as a normal STF jet bike. So if we need to get somewhere fast to help we can. I assume that is why your jet bike isn't so 'standard'." 

"Oh yeah I'm been called to work many times when it was my day off. Too often in fact. Makes me kinda wonder why I joined to be a LPD officer in the first place." 

"Why did you join the LPD Zel?" 

"Why did you become a red STF agent?" 

"I asked you first." 

"Okay when I was young I never got to see much of my family. My father was always busy at work with my grandfather. I guess my great-grandfather Rezo was working here the whole time, and my mother disappeared a long time ago. Rotamis was like an older brother to my father so I was left in Rotamis' care a lot. Something about my father's work being too dangerous for me to be around him. But I don't hate my father for it. I was nearly killed one time when I was at the park with him when I was seven. Someone tried to killed him with a plasma bomb." 

"You're kidding me! A plasma bomb?! In a park?!" Lina was very shocked. Usually if some person was going to assassinate someone else they would do it a place where no one can identify the source and use a weapon that will only attack their target and few people around it. Now attempting to kill someone in a public place wasn't too out of the norm, but using a plasma bomb was. With its wide dispersible explosion it has the capability to hurt if not kill lots of people around it. Only a madman would try something like that. 

"Yeah it was after that incident that my dad realized how dangerous it was fro me to be around him. But growing up with Rotamis was really interesting. He was such a great agent in his day. He was my idol when I was growing up and I wanted to be a LPD officer just like him. Now your turn." 

"Okay well my whole family as you know is part of the STF in some way so it was just natural that I would end up working here too. But I guess the reason that I wanted to be a red agent was because of my older sister. Everyone always praised her as an agent and I wanted to be better than her." 

"How are you doing so far? Are you as good as she was at her age?" 

"Not even close. I quit trying to be better than her a long time ago. I'm a red agent now not because I want to beat her, but because I want to be one. But why are you still a LPD if it's so annoying to you?" 

Zelgadis laughed which in turn confused Lina. She didn't know what was so funny about what she said. 

"I can't even call in sick without them breathing down my neck. Do you really think that they would let me quit? I'd have to have a pretty damn good reason to not want to be a LPD officer anymore in order for them to let me go. And I'm sorry to say this but wanting to quit just because I don't feel like working there as one isn't a good enough reason for them." 

Lina raised an eyebrow. "What do they do when you call in sick?" 

"They send over a stupid nursebot to go to my home and assess my health. If I'm not sick enough by their standards then they send me back to work. But working at the station isn't all that bad. I really do like the job, it's just working with Gourry that's a pain in the neck." 

"Yes I would imagine so." Lina chuckled going into the orange agent report station. 

~*~

Vernas squinted over his work mixing various chemicals into different flasks. But he was having trouble concentrating. 

"Damn that red-blond haired annoying STF brat!" Vernas muttered to himself in the empty dimly lit underground lab that had become his main research area. 

"Who are you talking about?" Vernas jumped and dropped his flasks on the floor. Ozer who had jut popped up behind him darkly smiled. 

"Ozer I've told you time in and time again to stop sneaking up on me! What if I happened to be working on explosive or possibly radioactive materials and you did that?! We could get killed." 

"But you weren't working with dangerous materials, you were just trying to make coffee." 

Vernas cringed. 'I should have known that he would know the difference. He too smart for his own good! Damnit I never get the recognition and respect that I deserve.' 

"Well in any case you have caused me to make this mess that I now am going to have to clean up!" Vernas spat out at Ozer. Ozer didn't even blink an eye. He was calm and emotionless. 

"The progress on the plan?" 

"We're being delayed because of that little STF brat! I never got a chance to get our last supply shipment and I really needed some of those materials!" 

"This 'brat' you speak of, whom are you talking about?" 

"Lina Inverse!" 

"Inverse? As in Blitz Inverse's youngest daughter?" 

"Yeah one of his middle children. Why do you know him?" 

"You could say that." Ozer's emotionless face turned dark. Blitz had been one of the main people who managed to put him in jail. It gave Ozer a little bit of satisfaction that he would have the chance to deal with one of his kids. 'This is going to be a lot more fun than what I was expecting.' He laughed darkly and Vernas just rolled his eyes. 

~*~

"I feel like my arms are going to fall off…" Zangulus groaned collapsed on the locker room floor. 

"What are you tired Zangulus? You guys only did the easy course." Leviathan loomed over him. Lina and Leviathan had taken Martina, Zangulus, Zelgadis and Gourry on a STF 'beginners' obstacle course. Needless to say they were wiped out. 

"I can't even move…" 

"But Gourry it's almost lunch time…" 

"FOOD!" Gourry jumped to his feet and ran out the door. 

"How the hell does he do that?" Leviathan looked a bit mystified at the display. Everyone one else in the room just gave him a tired glare. 

Gourry came back a minute later looking quite sheepish. 

"What's wrong Gourry? Aren't you going to go eat lunch?" 

"Yeah but um, where is the cafeteria again?" 

Everyone facefaults. 


	10. STF part 10

__

Author's Note: This part does have a few inconsistancies with STF. Partly becuse I had forgotten about a few things when I wrote this part. So otherwise, please ignore any conflicting ideas. 

~*~

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Ten, Operation S

By Relm

~*~

Ozer stared at the broken glass tubes and turned tables of one of the older labs of the underground hideout. There were many labs around all connected through numerous tunnels, many of which Ozer could venture through, but this one was special to him. It was dark and had not been used for a very long time. It was one of the first labs that Vernas had built when he started his illegal underground research that none of the authorities knew about. Which was why both Vernas and Ozer used this place as their hideout. No one knew about its location and Vernas was able to continue his work. But was this particular lab special to Ozer? Memories are very priceless things. 

He traced his fingers along the edges of the broken glass drawing blood, but he didn't care. Pain meant very little to him. The room itself had no power so Ozer walked in utter darkness, but that didn't matter for he could see in the dark. One of his little 'presents' since 'birth'. 

"A little longer and I'll have my revenge. Will you be ready for the carnage?" Ozer laughed darkly to himself. 

~*~

Blitz shuddered despite of STF's regulated temperature controls. 

"Dad? Are you alright?" Luna glanced at her father quizzically. They were both in the observation deck watching their new 'special' orange agents as their prepared for their first physical exams. Even though it had only been a few days since Zelgadis, Gourry, Martina and Zangulus had signed in as orange agents they were already taking their performance exams. The government and the STF high officials wanted them to at least get to a level two red agent rank as soon as possible. 

"Yes Luna I'm okay, I just got this sudden chill run down my spine." 

"Hmm." Luna returned her attention to the window watching her sister help the LPD preparations. Like usually Luna's face bore very little emotion. 

"Luna what are you thinking about?" Blitz in the past had asked that question to her many times and every time she would give the same answer… 

"…" Luna just wouldn't say anything. 

Blitz just sighed returned and looked back at Lina. She was smiling chatting noisily to Martina and Leviathan. 'What a difference between them. Lina is always full of joy and emotion while Luna seemed to be like a robot and the only emotion she ever shows is anger. Lina's like her mother, but who do you take after Luna?' 

~*~

Lina gave Martina a pat on the back and went with Lev to go sit down. Both of them had been with the LPD officers throughout all their STF training, observing and helping in any way they could. And even though they were being rushed through the system Zelgadis, Zangulus, Martina and even Gourry were catching on very easily. 

"Well how do you think they will do? Do you think they will pass?" 

"All four them are in good shape and in combination with their pervious LPD training I doubt they will have any problems. It's the knowledge exams I'm worried about." Lina glanced over to Gourry. 

"Don't worry about Gourry, Lina. I have been having Zangulus keep Gourry on track. He shouldn't have any troubles." 

"I suppose you are right." Lina still frowned but then adverted her gaze to Zelgadis and her frown was replaced by a grin. He looked a bit nervous, probably from his upcoming physical exam, but he did seem contented. 'Must like the challenge.' Lina's eyes followed him around the room and didn't break her stare even when she made eye contact with him. 

Leviathan watched his sister with great interest. Gavin had already relayed what he had been told by Amelia about Lina's behavior. True she did like to flirt, but she would always do it in a playful manor but she'd never show initial interest. She liked to play mind games with those who were interested in her but she'd never let them get too far. Lev doubted that she had ever even let anyone even kiss her. But there did seem to be something about Zelgadis that made her act differently. She was a lot more open and more carefree and she smiled more. Not that she didn't smile before; it's just that now she was smiling genuine smiles. 

Lina narrowed her eyes a bit. She knew that she was being stared at, she could feel Leviathan's eyes on her. "What?" 

"How far have you gone with him?" Lina snapped her head back at Leviathan in a bit of shock. 

"And who's 'him'?" 

"Why the LPD turned orange agent that seems to have caught your attention these past few days." Leviathan grinned at her mischievously. 'Hmm this is fun getting the chance at being the teaser instead of the victim. I finally get the chance to get my revenge for all the times you've bugged me.' 

Lina only rolled her eyes. She was expecting this sooner or later. "As hard as it might be to believe, Zelgadis and I are just friends." 

"Just friends?" 

"Yeah…for now." She matched his grin and grinned larger. In fact her facial expression had one of those hidden 'I've got something evil planned and if you keep bugging me I'll put it into action' messages in it. 

"Oh well it's time for their tests, we'd better go with them." Leviathan concluded with relief breaking eye contact with Lina. He did steal a quick glance only to find her still grinning at him. 

~*~

Physical examination's went well or so they hoped, and the four of them were entitled to leave early, only staying till lunchtime. Zangulus left to go eat in the cafeteria mumbling something about not have much money, Martina curious followed Zangulus, Zelgadis left with Lina and Lev to go have lunch at a new restaurant that opened up, and Gourry was just left to fend for his own. Now he could have joined Zangulus but after the mean looks he got from the cafeteria lady last time he ate there he figured maybe he should go somewhere else. 

Gourry headed out towards the parking lot after going through the many hallways and security checks and hopped on his jet bike. They still hadn't been issued any STF standard ones to any of them so he was still stuck using his own. Not that he minded much; Gourry liked his jet bike. When he was younger him and his older brother Aaron had bought the bike used and broken and worked many months on fixing it up. Gourry had so fun spending time with his brother working on their little project. He had no idea that Aaron had no intention of keeping the bike and gave it to Gourry for one of his birthdays. Gourry was confused by Aaron's actions, he had always thought that Aaron was working on the bike for himself, but in reality he was just doing it to spend time with his little brother. 

Gourry revved up the engine and sped out on to the streets. He didn't really have a location in mind, he was just enjoying the ride but before he knew he was right in front of the LPD station. Gourry smiled and drove up to the familiar form walking up the street. 

"Hey Sylphiel!" Gourry yelled over the engine and stop right next to the longhaired woman. 

"Oh Gourry! My what a surprise! How are you?" 

"I'm great. A little hungry though. I was going to head out for some lunch, you wanna join me?" 

"Um, well…" 

"Come on just hop on behind me. I've got an extra helmet." 

Sylphiel looked nervously at Gourry. 'Should I go with him? Well why not?!' "Okay I will." 

"Good." Gourry flashed her a large smile that just made Sylphiel melt. She put on the helmet and timidly got on the bike behind him. She was blushing like crazy and she was turning redder by the moment. "You'd better hold on tight." Gourry started up the engine and zoomed forward. Sylphiel had to grab on Gourry tight just to keep from falling off. Well if she thought she was blushing hard before that was nothing compared what her face was like now. And not just her face, she was blushing from head to toe. Gourry on the other hand didn't seem to notice this all that was on his mind was food and how he was going to eat it. 

~*~

They ended up at a little restaurant a few blocks away from the station. Since Gourry had been at this place many times before they didn't even give him any odd looks when he ordered what he wanted to eat. With their waiter gone and coffee in hand Sylphiel and Gourry just glanced at each other not saying anything. 

"So what's it like at the STF?" Sylphiel fingered the rim of her coffee cup. 

"Oh it's okay I guess. You get free food and they have tones of stuff there. There is only one thing I don't like going there." 

"What's that?" 

"It's so big so I get lost all the time." 

Sylphiel chuckled. 'That's Gourry for you, but at least he's a nice guy.' 

"Well it's a good thing that the food is free there given your large appetite." 

"Yeah but I think I've got the cafeteria lady mad at me. But how are things back at the station?" 

"Things are going well I suppose. Zolf has been throwing fits left and right. He's not too pleased about the four of you guys becoming STF agents even if it's temporary. But it's odd though, the crime rate for once seems to be going down for once." 

"Really? Maybe things are starting to get better." 

"Or about to get worse. I have this funny feeling that something big is going to happen, and soon." 

"Maybe." 

~*~

Vernas was carefully adding chemicals together but this time he wasn't making coffee. He was conducting a few tests to make sure that his plan would succeed with no fail. But that was proving to be harder than he anticipated. Since Lina's little interruption he hadn't been able to get the location of where his supplies were going to be delivered. Though Vernas had paid for the goods he had no idea where they were. And what made matters worse was that he really needed some of those things and they were pretty rare. He had very little means to find another supplier that would have his special request items or where his original ones went. So Vernas was left to improvise to see if could substitute some of those items with other ones. So far each little test he conducted failed. 

"This isn't going to work!" Vernas smacked his head on the table in frustration. 

"Oh but Dr. Vernas, there still might be a way..." Ozer once again emerged from the shadows like a dark spirit. 

"How?" 

"I'll just need to get you those items. I can order some more, I do know of a supplier that might help us. Only it will take longer. Much, much longer. I'll go and arrange things." Ozer didn't care how long it took, just as long as their plans went through without a problem. He'd rather take a long time and not have things screw up rather than get things done quick a risk failure. He posed quite a bit of patience. 

Vernas on the other hand was very annoyed. 'And why the hell isn't he bothered by the whole situation?! That damned 'thing' is messed up in the head!' He grumbled and worked on other things. 

~*~

Blitz walked the halls of STF headquarters heading down to see Rezo about the current situation. Though he loved his job, Blitz was finding himself very anxious lately. Every moment of every day that passed was a reminder that the STF was running out of time. He didn't know how time they had left till Ozer and Vernas were going to put their plan into action, whatever it was, but he knew it wasn't much. Blitz almost laughed when he thought back to Lina and how she complained that no one told her anything. He himself had no idea what Vernas and Ozer were going to do, and he was starting to wonder who did. 

Inside the main labs were of course busy as usual with lots of work going on. Blitz walked towards Rezo's section to find the purple haired yellow agent talking with a tall individual. 

"Hello Rezo." 

"Ah yes Blitz come over here. This is my son-in-law." Blitz came closer to the two and his eyes widened. 

"Your son-in-law is Senator D-?!" 

"Yes does seem a bit strange. But no matter, we must concentrate on the matter at hand shall we?" Rezo interrupted Blitz. 

"Um yeah. Do you have any idea what Vernas new experiment is and what it has to do with Ozer?" Blitz said very quietly. He was still a bit surprised on who Rezo's son-in-law is. 'If he's Rezo's son-in-law then that means he's Zelgadis' grandfather. Must be one of the reasons why he was chosen for this mission.' 

"I wish I did. I'm still a bit boggled to what exactly Ozer happens to be. He's not like any human I've seen. But in any case son have you gotten any word on those samples of Ozer's DNA?" 

"I'm sorry to say this, but after Ozer escaped him and Vernas destroyed all the samples and the written and electronic analysis files. Not a clue was left by them." 

"But what of the scientist that analyzed the samples? Couldn't they tell us anything? I'm sure they could remember something." 

"They could if Ozer hadn't already killed them. One thing is for sure whatever those two are up to it involves Ozer's physical being." The three men were at a stalemate with the two most wanted criminals of their time. 


	11. STF part 11

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part 11, And moving right along… 

By Relm

~*~

"Hello? Amelia dear are you in there?" Mayor Philionel knocked on his youngest daughter's head. 

"Huh?" Amelia blink as she came out of la la land. She had been eating breakfast with her dad and she just zoned out for a moment. "I mean yes Daddy?" 

"Well it's good to see you have come back to the land of the living. I asked you four times if you liked your breakfast and didn't answer me." 

"I'm sorry, no it's fine. What time are you going to be coming home tonight?" 

"Probably sometime late tonight. But you know how it is; being a mayor takes a lot of work and effort. Just like training to be an STF agent. So tell me, how's my precious daughter doing these days?" 

"Since I was reassigned to a different agent things haven't been as hectic as they normally were with Miss Lina." 

"Oh? And who are you with now?" 

"Um…" Amelia blushed and avoided eye contact with her father. Phil laughed heartily. 

"Oh I see. Anyways I hope you have a good day Amelia. I'll see you later at home. If you hear from your older sister, tell her I say hi." 

"Bye Daddy!" 

"Bye Sweatheart." Phil walked out of the door with his briefcase and other papers. Phil was a very large and scary looking man but to those who know him, they know that he is one of the nicest most generous people in the world. 

Amelia fiddled with what was left of her breakfast. She couldn't even remember what she was eating and there wasn't much left to identify it. A maidbot cleared off the table and Amelia went to her room to her computer. Her as usual was spotless but when you have cleaning robots all around the place cleaning up everything there was little chance of anything being messy. Amelia sighed. Of course she was pretty well off, her father was the mayor of the city after all, but sometimes she was annoyed by her wealth. When she was younger other kids would alienate her because she was rich and the other rich kids also alienated her too because unlike them Amelia wasn't a spoiled brat. That was one thing she liked about working with the STF, she never gets special treatment there, she was treated like everyone else. 

"Hmm I wonder if I have any messages from my sister…" Amelia flipped on her screen and checked her messages. She had no new ones. 'Not surprising it's like one in the morning over where she is.' When Amelia was very young her mother had died leaving her with only her older sister and her father as family. Amelia loved them both very much and was saddened when her sister Gracia had decided to leave to work abroad. Gracia currently lived on the other side of the world and Amelia missed her terribly. "Well I probably should get going to STF headquarters, Gavin's probably already there." 

~*~

Gavin was already STF HQ but only because Lina and Leviathan had dragged him there early. Today they were announcing the results of the STF red level one exams. Why were they there early? Because Lina wanted to see if she could find out before anyone else does. Where they gonna tell her? Nope. 

"I told you Lina you're going to have to wait with everyone else." De Tanga the high level blue agent currently in charge with dealing the sensitive marks of the 'special' orange agents spoke in a firm tone to Lina. 

"Oh come on De Tanga! Can't you just tell me if they passed or not? I promise I wont say anything!" 

"Lina you know I'm not allowed too! Their marks are only for them to view. And besides your Dad was quite strict about this. He told me not to let anyone else view the LPD officers and especially not you." 

"Damn! But I want to know now!" 

"Well you can find out once they get here. But until then you are going to have to wait. So stop bugging me." 

Lina frowned stomping her feet. Leviathan laughed at her impatience and Gavin yawned. The two level nine twins had dragged him out of his bed and he hadn't really woken up yet. 

"So let me guess this straight. You two dragged me out here this early only to have to wait for Zelgadis and the rest of them come?" 

"Your point?" 

"I could still be sleeping now! And because of you two now I'm tired and I can't go back home to sleep because if I go home I'd have to leave and come back here because I don't have enough time!" 

"That's not our fault." 

"Yes it is! You were the ones who dragged me here in the first place! Why did I have to come in the first place?!" 

"If you didn't want to go you should have just said so." 

Gavin facefaulted. 

"What's up with Gavin?" Zelgadis loomed over Gavin's facefaulted form. Lina immediately latched onto Zel's arm. 

"ZEL! You're here!" Lina grinned with a death grip on his arm. Zelgadis went bugged eyed. 

"Um, yeah I'm happy to see you too…" Zelgadis was blushing bright red and was a bit confused by her greeting. 

"Hey De Tanga! Zel's here so you can give him his mark now!" Lina dragged Zelgadis over to where De Tanga was standing. She was a bit over active, made you kinda wonder how much coffee she had drank that morning. 

"If you are wondering she has been hounding me for two hours now trying to find out all of your exam results. Of course I'm not aloud to tell her. So anyway here this is your mark." De Tanga handed Zelgadis a gray envelope. Zelgadis just stared down at it. Inside that little envelope determined whether or not he would be a red level one agent. 'Did I pass? I can't look. If I failed that would be terrible! But if I did? Oh I can't stand this I want to open it but at the same time I don't want to.' 

While Zelgadis was going through this little mental dilemma Lina was going nuts. She was about ready to grab it from him and open it herself. "Just open it damnit!" Zelgadis went bug-eyed again but quickly complied and tore it open. 

"I passed. I passed!" Zelgadis yelled and Lina grabbed the exam results from him. 

'Wow he did really good. What the hell, why was he worried for? From the looks of this he passed with flying colors!' Lina glanced curiously at Zelgadis who was currently grinning like an idiot. 

"Zelgadis smiling? What's going on here?" Zangulus, Martina and Gourry came over to them. 

"I passed! I'm a red agent!" 

"Well of course you passed Zel. Man you were like acing everything we did. There was no way you would fail it." 

"Oh. How do you think you guys did?" 

"We all passed." Zangulus said with a smile. 

"And how do you know that?!" Lina grabbed him by the collar. 

"Oh because we came here three hours ago and got our marks from De Tanga already." 

Lina let go of Zangulus and about to pounce on De Tanga in a fit of rage but conveniently De Tanga had chosen that exact time to phase out and teleport elsewhere. 

"Grr… damned monster. He's almost as bad as that fruitcake Xellos." 

"Oh come on Lina, it's your own fault. It's not like you asked him if they had already by." Leviathan said matter-of-factly, but then due to Lina's tried patience perhaps that wasn't the best course of action. Lina glared evily at her twin. 

~*~

Outside that very room that the seven of them were in Amelia could hear the sounds of repeated bashing and stomps. 'What is going on in there?' She pushed the side panel button to open the door and only found all of them standing around. Well except Leviathan, he was laying on the ground beaten to a pulp. Lina oddly enough was standing nearby grinning very contently. 

"I'm not even going to ask." 

"Good because I doubt you'd want to know anyway. I guess we should go find out what our assignments are for today right?" Gavin got up next to Amelia who looked at him quizzically. 

"Why do you look so tired?" 

"Well let's just say I had a rude awakening this morning." Gavin glared at both his older brother and sister with evil eyes as he left with Amelia. 

"So Lina I have a question for you. We're now level one agents but what do we have to do to become higher in the ranks?" 

Lina cleared her throat and dawned a pair of dark rimmed glasses commonly worn by teachers and took out a book and started to read out loud in a snotty stuck up voice. "Since you are red agents now you can advance when you feel like it. All you have to do is tell the higher officials that you want to take the next level exams, they'll arrange the dates, and you take the tests on those days that they tell you. You pass you advance in rank, you fail well you'd just stay at the same level you are now." Lina slammed her book and took off her glasses and smiled at them. (Sweatdrops) "But remember this the higher you are in rank the more harder and dangerous missions you will be assigned. Right now you aren't getting any assignments just due to the fact that you are already on this mission with me. Why Zel? Already wanting to advance?" She looked at him mischievously. 

"Well I was just curious that's all. But why don't you two take the next exam for level 10?" 

Leviathan magically healed from all wounds like most cartoon characters do after receiving a large beating, and answer this question for Lina. "Hey just being a level nine agent is hard and dangerous enough in itself. Me and Lina have this little thing that we do. We both take our test together and stay at the same level until we both are ready to advance onward and then we sign up for the next set of tests." 

"What about if one is ready and the other is not?" Martina, Zangulus and Zelgadis were showing interest in what Leviathan had to say while Gourry on the other hand was off in his own world probably on the verge on taking a trip to dreamland. Leviathan just ignored the blond haired LPD officer. 

"Well then let's just say both Lina and I had taken the level 6 test and passed it. So how about five months later I'm still feeling a little swamped and I know that I wont be able to handle being a level seven. Lina on the other hand is finding it too easy and she's ready to go on, but she wouldn't though. She'd wait until I was ready then we go for it together." 

"Why would you do this exactly?" 

"We don't have to, but we just choose too. A lot of times Lina and I are put together as partners for assignments just because we are twins. And that's pretty good because the two of us work very well together. But I guess the main reason we do this is because we like to be on the same level. Call it a twin thing if you wish." 

Gourry at this point started to snore very loudly. Remember that book Lina was reading from? Guess what Lina did next with it? 

(THWAP!) 

"Ouch! Huh? What's going on?" Gourry looked around the room very dazed rubbing the now very large lump on his head. 

~*~

Somewhere in Vald city center building (Relm: Oh yeah if you are curious about the name of this little city that STF takes place in it's called 'Vald'.) all of the government officials of the city sat at a large table in a conference room. 

"So what is the meaning of this conference?" One of the nameless Senators who wont and will not be named just due to practical use of this one part of STF and just because the author doesn't feel it's necessary to name every one of them asked. (ChibiRelm: You're lazy you know that? 

Relm: How dare you enter my fanfic without permission! Sacrilege! GET OUT! I shall not let you spread your insane influence among this sacred fanfic! 

ChibiRelm: Um Relm? 

Relm: What?! 

ChibiRelm: Shouldn't be writing the fanfic instead of blabbing? 

Relm: -_- Will you shut up…) 

"You all do know the recent problems arising in a out fare city? Though crime rate is at a all time low there is the disturbing fact that both Ozer and Vernas are scheming up a plan." 

There was silence in the room. 

"Does anyone have any idea why the crime rate has been so low lately?" 

Again more silence. 

"Perhaps you could call it the 'calm before the storm'" Senator Cassandra finally spoke up ending the silence. "You know it's quite possible that the underground is aware of the whole upcoming 'plan' as you had called it and they are working something's themselves." 

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Either they are finding away to stay alive once the 'storm' is upon us or to find a way to cut in on the deal. The reports in front of you all are information that has been gathered by some of our STF personal. Vernas and Ozer are in need of supplies. There were going to get some more two days ago but fortunately some of our agents managed to stop them. But we are only in real fact delaying the inevitable. We are only buying time, because eventually Vernas and Ozer will get what they need." 

"What are we delaying it for? What's so special about this Zelgadis Greywers kid that we need him specially trained? Why do we need him?" 

"Ah yes I might as well get into that and what we know about Ozer and Vernas' plans." 

~*~

"Ahh-choo!" Zelgadis sneezed quite loudly. 

"What's wrong Zel? Getting a cold?" 

"Maybe." 

(ChibiRelm: You aren't ending this part there are you? 

Relm: Yup. 

ChibiRelm: But you didn't even explain what Zelgadis has to do with Ozer and Vernas! 

Relm: Yup. 

ChibiRelm: You are evil you know that? 

Relm: Yup.) 


	12. STF part 12

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part 12, Family Ties

By Relm

~*~

"…so that's everything." Senator Cassandra finished explaining everything to the board. 

They all looked around at each around the room. But the all mostly were looking at the expressionless silver haired lady with the cold sapphire eyes. 

"What do you think about this Mrs. Greywers?" Senator Zellas dared to ask Lillian. 

"Some of the Inverse family are working with my son on this mission right?" Lillian said still expressionless and staring forward. 

"Yes, Lina and Leviathan Inverse." 

"Then Zelgadis will be fine." The corners of her mouth went up in a little all-knowing smile. 

~*~

(SMACK) 

Zelgadis hit the punching bag one more time. He was in one of the personal training rooms of the rec room. Even though he didn't need to, Zel was getting ready for his upcoming red level two physical exams. But of course those exams weren't till next week. Zelgadis and the rest of them may have just became level one agents that day, but that wasn't going to slow down their training. The higher officials of STF wanted to have the four of them at least at a level three ranking before they did any real work concerning the Vernas case. Little did they know that Zelgadis was planning on taking his next exam this week. 'A level two agent is about equal in status as my rank as a LPD officer. So it I should be able to pass the next set of exams without much trouble.' He punched the bag again harder this time. It swung a bit too much making it hard on Zelgadis. 

"You need someone to hold that for you." Lina said from the doorway behind him. 

"Are you offering?" 

"Sure why not?" She walked over to him and held the bag while he punched. 

"What's with the extra training Zel?" She asked him in-between punches. 

"Do you think I'm going to wait a whole week to take my next tests? No way. I'm planning to get as far as I'm capable." He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked her straight in the eye. 

"Why? Are you planning to stay with the STF after this mission?" 

"You got that right. Working with the LPD may be nice but ever since I first worked with a red agent on a case I've been fascinated by the STF. I learned as much as I could and well now that I'm actually here… I don't want to leave." 

Lina grinned. "Well then maybe you work on some fighting techniques. You wanna spare with me?" She smiled at him with a challenging expression. 

"That might be… interesting. Sure." He matched her smile and stepped over to the fighting mats. 

"How about we work on with the sonic blades?" She unsheathed her blade and admired its glowing charge. 

"Alright but I'll warn you don't be surprised when you loose." He took out his own cocky with bragging rights, Zelgadis knew that he was good he had been trained well from a young age. 

"Oh yeah? We'll just see about that." She gripped her blade ready to attack. 

~*~

(CLANG) 

Lina swung her blade forward and Zelgadis blocked. The had been sparing for a good hour now and they were both tired, sweaty 

(CLANG) 

and enjoying every minute of it. 

"Are you (huff) tired yet?" Zelgadis held his sword his blocking her attack again. Their sparing had been going well. Zel had won a few matches and Lina had won the others. 

"Why (wheeze) are you?" Lina now blocked his attack, and pushed back and went into stance. Though Zel was very good, Lina was just as talented as him. It was very evenly matched and the two of them were enjoying having someone to fight with on an equal level. It reminded Zel of when he was back at the station. He never had anyone to spare with because none of them were as good as he was. Expect Gourry and Zangulus. They were much better than he was and it was pointless for him to try his luck against them. They were both too good and beat him way too easily. So Zelgadis just left the two of them to do their matches and watched feeling a little tinge of jealousy. He had always wanted an equal in fighting. 

"Yeah sorta." Zelgadis lowered his sword and tried to catch his breath. 

"Good because I'm beat. Good match there Zelgadis. Anyway I'm going to go hit the showers. I suggest you do the same. See you around." Lina waved and walked out of the room. Once she left Zelgadis quit pretending he wasn't tired and collapsed on the floor. He stared up at the ceiling for a little while. He could move a muscle he felt like his body was made of rock. Eventually he rolled onto his side and got up. He wobbled his way over to the locker room. The shower felt nice and after he was done he felt pretty good, tired but still he was a little better. But his stomach was threatening a revolt if he didn't eat anything soon. Sure enough when he looked at his watch he saw that if was two o'clock. 'Lunch might be a good idea.' With that he started heading over to the cafeteria when he stopped. The people at the cafeteria had been getting angry with Lina, Leviathan and Gourry lately for the large amounts of food that they had been scarfing down (even with the dietary supplement pills) lately. Even though Zel had nothing to do with this just because he knew the three of them and came in often with them to eat the people at the cafeteria didn't look to kindly on him. 'Better go somewhere else today.' He turned at the corner of the hallway to bump into a dark lavender haired man coming from the opposite direction. 

"Ouch! Are you all- Huh? Dad?" Zelgadis stared wide-eyed at his father. 

"Oh Zelgadis! What are you doing here hmm? Oh! You joined the STF how lovely." Kendan Greywers smiled at his son and stood up dusting himself off. Kendan's hair was darker than his son's and his slanted eyes were a garnet red unlike Zelgadis' sapphire blue ones. 

"Dad, what are you doing here?" 

"Here? Zel I work here." 

"You what?!" Now Zel's eyes widened even further (if that's possible). "How? Why? How long?" 

"I was just about to grab something to eat. How about you join me and I can tell you anything you want to know, would that be okay?" Kendan offered his hand and helped his son off the floor. Zelgadis just deftly nodded. 

~*~

"My it's been a while since the two of us had been here together." Kendan mused looking around the busy restaurant. Zelgadis and Kendan were sitting at a table away from most of the people there and they had just finished ordering their lunch. 

"Yeah it has. Dad when did you join the STF?" 

"Well you remember when you were growing up and I was working at a job that was very dangerous?" 

"Yes and?" 

"Well I was working at the STF back then. You see a good majority of our family work or have worked at the STF." 

"A good majority? You mean there has been more of us working at the STF besides Rezo?" 

"Oh so you had the opportunity to see your great-grandfather at work huh? Very good yellow agent isn't he? Well besides Rezo, there has been his father and mother, my mother, my other grandfather and grandmother, even my father." 

Zelgadis glared at his father very seriously. Zel's grandfather was a very mysterious one, a person whom he had only met once in his lifetime and even then he was too young to remember it. His grandfather had many enemies and very rarely stayed with one name or one form, he was constantly changing it. Zelgadis only knew his grandfather by the name William, but he knew that even that name was false. 

"What do you do at STF?" 

"Oh I'm a yellow agent. I do most of the work in the weapons and chemicals research. When you were younger I was working some pretty sensitive experiments and well somehow word got round that I knew some interesting facts. Facts that various shady characters thought would be interesting and useful to them. First I got threats to hand over the information I knew and well there was that incident in the park. I knew that this would happen again so that's why I left you in Rotamis' care. I hope you don't hate me for that." 

"No don't worry Dad I don't. I understand what you had to go through. But if you could do everything over again would you have joined the STF?" 

"Yes I would have. Maybe I didn't give you the greatest childhood a parent could give his son but if I hadn't joined the STF then you wouldn't have been born in the first place." 

"How's that?" 

"Because I met your mother at the STF." 

"You did?" Zelgadis was a bit surprised. He very ever rarely heard anything about his mother. 

"Yeah. She was also in the yellow division just like me. But she dealt with more dangerous things than me. Her research includes many things, from weapons and cures to various deadly diseases." 

"If everyone is part of the STF then why wasn't I at least told about it?" 

"Because Zelgadis, Lillian and I wanted you to have as normal childhood as you could get. The less you knew the safer you were. And we didn't want you to grow up with the impression that you had to join the STF with us." 

"I probably would have wanted to join anyway. Geeze funny my whole family sounds a lot like Lina's…" Zelgadis mused as their food was put before them. 

"Lina? As in Lina Inverse? Blitz Inverse's little red and blond haired girl?" 

"Yeah, but she's not that little. Why do you know the Inverse family?" 

"Do I know them? Ha! Blitz and I are best friends! He and I grew up together." 

"You did?" 

"Yeah. So you have been talking with Lina?" 

"Well I first met her a few weeks ago, the same day I was asked to join the STF." 

"Oh really? Actually that's not true." 

"What's not true?" 

"You didn't 'just' meet her a few weeks ago. You actually met her a very long time ago. Blitz, Faithe, your mother and I used to take you, Lina and Leviathan out together when you very small. Granted you probably wouldn't been able to remember that far back but you know what I mean. It was funny about you too. You were always such a shy little thing even as a baby but I never saw you smile so large when you with Lina and Lev. The three of you were so cute." 

"If that's the case then why didn't I know her growing up?" 

"Well things just got too busy I guess and Lina and Lev went to a different school then you." 

"Hmm…" Zelgadis took a forkful of his lunch into his mouth- 

"Why do you like Lina?" 

and choked. 

"What do you MEAN by THAT?!" Zel managed to choke out. His face had changed from it's normal pale skin tones to a deep red. But the question was his face red from embarrassment or from choking? 

"Well I don't know, I know what Faithe was like when she was younger…" 

"And?" 

"She was an 'interesting' girl and I was just wondering if you had a thing for Lina..." 

"How was Mrs. Inverse interesting?" Zelgadis tried to change the subject. 

"Well the day I first met Faithe was the same day me and Blitz met your mother. The two of them were best friends. 

"And it was love at first sight for you and Mom right?" 

"Nope I was after Faithe. Blitz was the one with a thing for your Mom." 

(Facefault) 

"Zelgadis are you alright?" 

"Um yeah Dad…" Zelgadis regained his composure but still had a sweatdrop trailing down the back of his head. (Relm: I've always wondered about those sweatdrops… You know I one time watched a cartoon where everyone in a place facefaulted and then he house sweatdropped. It just doesn't make any sense!) 

"As I was saying I was after Faithe and Blitz was after Lillian. It worked out pretty well too. We managed to swing a couple of double dates. But those were always messed up because Blitz and Faithe would always get into these stupid arguments. And they were terrible arguments that usually ended up with lots of large heavy objects being thrown about. The two of them acted like they generally hated each other. Both your mother and I realized that the two of them really liked each other wasn't aware of it." 

"Wait a minute and how does two people hating each other and getting into tons of arguments mean that they like each other romantically? Didn't they hate each other?" 

"They acted like they hated each other. But what they argued about was a different story. Every time I would go do something with Faithe, Blitz would get jealous. And Faithe would also get jealous when your mother did stuff with Blitz. Only the two of them were far too stubborn to admit it. Lillian and I found that I neither of us were really that interested with them after all and we plotted ways to get them together. When we finally go them together I found I had more in common with the soft spoken, angelic Lillian than I had thought. And well I fell in love with her. And the rest is history." 

"Where is Mom now?" 

"She loves you son I hope you know that. And since you are in the STF now seeing her shouldn't be a problem. Just go down to Quata wing of the research area of the STF labs sometime. She should be down there most of the time. Tell the guys at the door who you are and who you'd like to see. If she's far too busy which happens often you might have to go another day. I don't think she's there today though." 

Zelgadis felt his heart leap into his throat. 'I can see my mother? I can't believe it.' He couldn't contain his joy but still he was a bit uneasy. "What would I say to her?" 

"Hello is always nice." Kendan lightly chuckled at his son. He could see how happy Zelgadis was. It wasn't fair that his mother had been there for his childhood but it wasn't Lillian's fault. She couldn't endanger her family's lives like that. She worked for the better of their city, so that Zel could have a safe place to grow up. 

"Thanks Dad." Zelgadis gave his father a warm smile. 

"No problem." 


	13. STF part 13

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part 13, Blahh 2 (Again I'm suffering from writers block)

By Relm

~*~

(RING RING) 

"Ugh! Shut up!" 

(RING RING) 

"Damnit whoever is on the phone just go away!" 

(RING RING) 

"Just leave me alone…" 

(RING RINGR) 

"Fine I'll answer it!" Zangulus crawled out his bed and went over to the telephone that bothering him so much. "What?!" 

_"Hello I'm Sheri Woolson from Revue Shoppers. Would you be interested in-"_

"NO!" (SLAM!) Zangulus slammed down the phone hard risking breaking it, but he didn't care. The clock clearly showed what time it was, on it was about two hours before he was planning on getting up. Right now he was angry, very angry. He was awake now and wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep even if he tried really hard. "Damn you Martina!" Now Martina wouldn't be responsible for Revue Shoppers calling about a survey … well at least you would think that. Only about a few months back Zangulus had played a little prank on her that made her far beyond mad. As revenge she sort of gave out Zangulus' phone number out to several companies dealing with telemarketing. So needless to say this isn't the first time that Zangulus had been rudely awoken by the phone. Of course he couldn't complain and fume at Martina because if he did then Martina would get the satisfaction of knowing that something she did was bugging the hell out of him. 

"Well if I'm going to be awake I might as well make you suffer as well." Zangulus grinned evily picking up the phone and dialed up Martina's phone number. 

~*~

Martina was smiling contently all curled up in her bed and she would have been woken up by the phone if she hadn't turned off the ringer before she went to bed last night. 

~*~

"Grr…" Zangulus scowled. "She probably turned off her ringer." And he set down his phone and went searching for something else to do. 

~*~

Zelgadis himself was up bright and early was about to go out for breakfast. His mind was still swimming from everything that he had been told the previous day. He hadn't told anyone and since the initial shock had settled in he felt like sharing the news with someone. 

"Hmm maybe I could invite someone out to eat breakfast but who?" Zelgadis mused as he picked up the phone. He really couldn't think of anyone that would be up at that hour. So he blindly pointed his finger down on his speed dial buttons and pushed it. He ended up pushing Zangulus' number. He cringed, Zangulus wasn't a morning person in the least. 'Oh well I guess I'll just have to hope for the best.' 

_"NO I DON'T WANT TO TAKE A DAMN SURVEY!"_ Is what Zel heard Zangulus yell very loud over the phone as he answered it. 

"Zangulus?" Zelgadis timidly spoke. 

_"Huh? Oh hi Zel. Sorry about that, haven't had a great morning."_

"I didn't wake you, did I?" 

_"No been up for a little while now…"_ Zel could hear a faint bit of bitterness in Zangulus' tone. 

"Anyway Zangulus, I'm going out for breakfast, do you want to join me?" 

_"Sure. How about we go to Taylors?"_

"Okay meet there in fifteen minutes?" 

_"Alright I'll see you there. Bye."_

"Bye" (Click) 

~*~

About an hour and a half later Zelgadis and Zangulus were finishing up their meal and Zel had just finished telling Zangulus about yesterday. 

"Whoa so both your parents work at STF? Geeze that's just plain weird." Zangulus stated gulping down the last bit of his coffee. 

"Yeah but I guess I should have figured it out sooner. How many other professions could my dad be in that would be dangerous to him and his family?" 

"Working with the mafia?" 

"Ha ha." 

"Oh well so now you can see either of them anytime you want." 

"…" 

"Planning on visiting your mother today?" 

"Um…" Zelgadis fiddled with his cup avoiding eye contact. He had been wrestling with that question all the day before. He wanted to go see her but in some ways he was afraid and nervous. 'Would she be proud of me? Or would I be a disappointment to her?' 

"Hello? Earth to Zelgadis? Is there intelligent life in there?" Zangulus waved his hand in front of his face. Zelgadis had gone into a daze, staring off into space. 

"Ah, sorry. Well I don't think I'll be seeing her today…" 

Zangulus just shook his head waving a scolding finger at Zelgadis. "That's bad, you don't even want to visit your own mother who gave birth to you. I'd hate to be your mother. But seriously Zelgadis you should go see her and soon. The longer you wait the harder it's going for you to do it." 

"I know, I know. But this isn't exactly the most easiest thing for me to do." Zelgadis drank some more of his coffee rolling his eyes. 

"Yeah I guess. So how many dates have you been on with Lina?" Zangulus spoke coyly and Zelgadis spat his coffee wide-eye and blushing furiously. 

"WHAT?!" 

"Oh come on you must have gone on at least one date." Zangulus gave him a tired glance. 

"Um, ah um no why would you think that?!" Zelgadis said a bit too loudly causing most of the other customers to stare at him. He shrunk down in embarrassment. 

"You haven't even gone on one yet? Are you trying to tell me that you two are just friends?" 

"And what's wrong with us only being friends?" 

"Oh for Pete's sake Zelgadis… don't you like her more then a friend? I mean you two are flirting with each other all the time that everyone thinks you are dating anyway!" 

"Yeah but everyone thinks that you and Martina are engaged, does that mean that you are?" Zelgadis tried his best to look coy and mischievous but that doesn't usually work when you are already embarrassed and blushing. But at least now Zangulus was in the same boat as Zelgadis. 

"Good point. Nevermind Zel forget what I said." 

And two of them came to a mutual silence. 

~*~

In a dark lab somewhere underground… 

"Hmm… now what would happen if I tried this…" Vernas mused as he mixed chemicals. The test experiments were not turning out well, they just didn't have the materials they needed. The way things were looking Vernas and Ozer wouldn't be able to do their main plan unless they wanted the experiment to fail so that meant waiting till they got their materials. Vernas was stressing over this quite a bit. He knew that he was working on borrowed time. The longer he worked illegally like this the less time he had till the authorities found and arrested him again. Ozer on the other hand was very calm and didn't seem care that much. He just sat there watching Vernas with no expression on his face. It was unnerving because he kept this cold stare with absolutely no expression. He didn't even blink which wasn't even humanly possible. 

"Argh! This isn't going to work at all!" Vernas threw a beaker against the wall in a fit of rage and annoyance. 

"You were never a patient person growing up were you?" Ozer still glared at Vernas. 

"How the hell can you be so damned calm?! What are we going to do if the police or better yet if the STF finds us, huh?!" Vernas waved his hands in the air over dramatically. He was stressed but he was also tired. He hadn't been sleeping that well lately. In fact he hadn't slept at all for the last two days. Vernas' eyes were bloodshot and his hair wild and not to mention that he bore the facial expression of a crazy person. 

"Simple, we leave." 

"Oh we leave huh?! And just how would we manage that?!" 

"I have my ways…" Ozer didn't elaborate on that, not that Vernas cared much. 

"Damned STF! If it hadn't been for their meddling then the plan would have been put underway a long time ago!" 

"I wonder if they know what our plan is yet…" Ozer smiled darkly. 

"And how would they know what it is?! It's not like we have been advertising it out to everyone!" 

"True, but I bet they have their guesses and they are probably not that far off. They found out about what we were going to purchase and stopped us before we could get them. Plus the fact that I would chose you of all people for this little… 'project'. I bet they know a lot, but we can only speculate on how much. Not that it matters anyway…" 

"How's that?" 

"Oh the STF are sometimes very secretive, even to their own people. I mean how long is it going to take for them to tell their little pawns that I escaped? Then from there on how long till they tell the public? If they know exactly what we are up to they'll keep it to themselves and take the time to formulate a plan. Off course by the time they think of a good one, it will be too late. That is unless they haven't already thought of a plan. Meaning we might not have a lot of time left." Ozer darkly laughed. He found it all too amusing. 

"How can you laugh?! If what you are saying is true then we might be already beat!" 

"Yes I know. But it's the danger and the challenge that amuses me. I wonder what little plan they have stored away in their little minds…" 

~*~

Xellos fidgeted nervously with his sleeve as waited for the elevator to reach his floor destination. His master Zellas had called him to meet with all the senators one of the daily conferences that they have been having ever since the whole incident with Ozer started. The elevator doors opened and Xellos stepped out and walked the outstretched long hallway to the conference room. 

"Come in Xellos." A voice spoke from inside the door before he could knock. The room was dark and many serious faced people were staring at him. There were all the senators, as well as various other high status people in charge of both Vald and the world. 

"Please sit down." Senator Zellas motioned for her subordinate to sit in the empty seat near her. 

"May I please inquire to why it is that I have been summoned here?" 

"Ahem yes I can answer that question," Senator Cassandra cleared her throat and continued, "You have been briefed about the current case involving Elbor Vernas and the one referred to as Ozer, correct?" 

"Yes ma'am." 

"Well since you are a member of the monster race I have a task for both you and De Tanga. It involves the case. I do believe that your 'master' has already told you a bit about the task." 

"Yes she has. I am to protect Zelgadis Greywers as well as the others whom he is working with on their section of the Vernas case." 

"But do you know why?" Senator stared coolly at the nicknamed 'Trickster Priest' by those who knew him. 

"No I do not. I may know a bit more then a lot of the agents at STF but even I am in that dark about that one." Xellos said that with a straight face but with a lot of effort. Nothing annoyed him more then having going on that is a secret to him. 

"Which is why you have been summoned here. It's about time that you were told the full conditions of what we are planning to do." Senator Cassandra took a deep breath before she started explaining. 

~*~

Filia paced around the medical lab angrily. Xellos was supposed to be there with her but due to his special meeting he had left her high and dry without much of an explanation. He just told her that he had to leave and that he would be back later. Now Xellos leaving her alone in the lab was not a bad thing, she welcomed getting some time away from the purpled haired monster. What was pissing her off was that he left without really telling her why. But he was being like his usual secret loving self by being as mysterious or as vague as he could possibly be. 

"He could be going out for donuts for I know! Damn weasel! Grr… why do I have to work with that thing?! I could have been a normal doctor, working in a normal hospital, but noooooo I had to become a STF yellow agent instead! More work, better pay, and more meaningful for the society, yeah but no one ever told me I'd end up working with the lowlife scum! AGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Filia kicked a nearby cabinet just to cry out in pain. 

~*~

"So do you understand all of this Xellos?" 

"Yes I do, but isn't that a bit… um dangerous for them to do? He's only been a red agent for a day and a half now." 

"We are well aware of the dangers. But I've been assured by many members of Zelgadis' family that he'll do fine." Senator Dynast said with his back turned to Xellos. "You should probably go back to STF HQ now Xellos. Don't want to keep Dr. Filia waiting now do you?" 

"Um yes sir." Xellos phased out and teleported to the medical lab where Filia was currently cursing up a storm hopping around in pain from her foot. 

"Ah Filia-dear you should really stop doing that." Xellos chuckled and dodged a few items thrown by Filia. 

~*~

Lina stared out into space. She was depressed. After what she ate after yesterday's match up with Zelgadis she had been banned from the cafeteria for a full week. And what made matters worse was that she forgot her money at home and she was hungry. 

"This is not fair I'm hungry…" Lina grumbled sitting on a bench in the relaxation indoor garden. Her stomach grumbled in agreement. A large sac pelted Lina in the stomach. She was going to yell at whoever threw it at her but she instead gasped when she saw who it was. 

"You're too stupid sometimes Lina." Luna looked down at her little sister with her usual cold glare. Lina was going to ask what the sac was but Luna turned around and left. 

"Now what is this?" Lina peered through the sac to find that it contained food much to her delight and quite a bit on top of that. There was even a note on the top of the bag. "'Lina don't make a habit of this, love Dad and Mom.' Yeah like I planned this to happen. Hee hee but at least I get a free meal out of this!" And thus Lina started wolfing down the food not noticing that someone was watching her on a video screen. 


	14. STF part 14

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part 14, A Rat in the House

By Relm

~*~

Zelgadis was heading over to the rec room when he passed by an elevator that lead to lower levels of STF. He gave it a long stare before he kept on walking. He was almost at the end of the hall when he turned around and went back to the elevator. Zangulus' advice from that morning was still playing over in his head. 'I should go see her… but I can't do it today because…' He couldn't think of a reason. 'No this is stupid. I'm going to going to put all this silliness aside and go see my mother.' And with he pushed a button and went in the elevator. 

~*~

Vernas grumbled as he woke up. He didn't remember falling asleep, but due to his current condition a small nap hadn't been unwelcome. He felt much better know and he got up stretching and looked around for Ozer to talk to him about something. Only Ozer was nowhere to be seen. 

~*~

The elevator went down floor after floor. The farther down it went the more Zelgadis' apprehension increased. Finally the elevator came to a stop and its doors opened. Zelgadis timidly stepped out. His dad the day before had given him instructions on where to go and fallowed them. He eventually came what was known as the Quata wing and he was stopped by guards at the entrance to it. 

"State your business." One of the guards gruffly said. 

"I wish to visit a yellow agent in this section." 

"Who do you wish to see and what is your name?" The other guard asked. 

"I want to see Lillian Greywers. I'm Zelgadis, her son." Zelgadis showed his id over to the second guard whom examined it very closely. A warm smile appeared on the guards face. 

"Well I'll be damned! Lillian and Kendan's son! I haven't seen you since you were very little. No wonder I did recognize you, you've grown so much. Just like your mother had said." 

"She talks about me?" Zelgadis though relieved that the guard knew who he was, he was confused a bit. 

"Oh yeah all the time! You know she's so proud of you. I never see her blue eyes sparkle more then when she talks about you. But she never told anyone that you joined the STF!" 

"Well, I only joined a short while ago. I didn't even find out that my parents even worked at the STF till yesterday." 

"And you wanted to see your mother at work huh? Well actually I'm sorry Zelgadis. I wish I could let you see her, but unfortunately she isn't here." 

Zelgadis' heart sank. He had mustered up all that courage to go see her and for what? Nothing. 

"Oh I see." 

"It's just that there has been some sort of special case going on and it has her very preoccupied and away from STF headquarters." 

"I understand." 'Probably something to do with the Ozer and Vernas case doubt.' "Well could you tell her that I came down if you see her?" 

"I will Zelgadis. Have a nice day, and I'm sorry again that you couldn't see your mother." 

"Don't worry yourself about it. Bye." Zelgadis though was disappointed as he walked back over to the elevator he still felt a little better about himself. Not only had he been able to get himself to go, but he had learned something about his mother. She was proud of him, meaning that she was still keeping up to date with what he was up too. 'Maybe Dad, Mom and I could do something as a family one of these days. I bet Dad could get a hold of her.' He went back into the elevator and pushed a button to take him back to his floor. 

~*~

Vernas was a bit peeved. Not only was Ozer nowhere to be seen, he wasn't even in the underground lab at all! Ozer had left and was walking around outside. 

"Damn him! Doesn't he know that he needs to keep a low profile! He gets caught then that will ruin all of our plans!" Vernas fumed. Ozer hadn't even left a single note about where he had gone or where he was heading. He knocked over a few things, including a very heavy and large desk which just conveniently landed right on his foot. 

~*~

Ozer smiled as he turned another corner and went through another hall. He was disguised and he straightened his dark blue hat a bit on his head. 

~*~

Lina was contented. After eating most of her food (she kept some for a snack later) she was heading over to the rec room. She knew that Zelgadis was going to be there later. Lina admired his dedication. 'He's going to be a damn good agent and a real asset for STF.' 

"Lina what are you smiling about?" 

Lina looked over to her right. There stood Devon standing outside his classroom. Devon's class had been dismissed and he was just clearing up some paperwork. He had heard footsteps and wasn't surprised to see Lina. 

"Class over today?" 

"Yup just ended recently. You didn't answer my question." 

"Which was?" 

"What were you smiling at?" 

"Oh just thinking about the new agents. Hey Devon do you have any idea what's up with this whole case? Have you been told anything?" Lina asked stepped into Devon's classroom after him. 

"Probably not much more then you have. But forget that now. The STF is always secretive to their agents. You should be used to that by now." He shook a scolding finger at her gave her a matching scolding expression. Lina rolled her eyes and he laughed. 

"Yeah but it still bugs me from time to time. Why do they have to be so secretive anyway? It's stupid they should be able to tell everyone in the force." 

"Lina even the smallest of law enforcement groups, there has to be secrets. That wont change. I think it's more of the reason on why they can't tell the secret then why don't they. If they aren't telling us it then there must be a good reason why. I wouldn't bother about little details like that. Anyway I've got something bigger to talk to you about." Devon said mysteriously and closed the door. 

"About what?" 

"Something very secret…" 

Lina raised her eyebrow at him. She could tell that he had something big on his mind but he also looked a bit nervous at the same time. 

"Spill it." 

"Okay do you know what Luna has been up too?" 

"Like what?" 

"Like what she's been doing in her free time and where she has been going?" 

"I don't know, she's hasn't been around the house that often." 

Devon snapped his fingers. "Exactly. She hasn't been home because she's been out." 

"So what? She goes out places, why would that be weird?" Lina leaned back on her chair. She was finding this line of questioning a little tedious. 'And what is Devon getting at?' 

"I think Luna is dating someone." 

Lina fell back on her chair. She got up and grabbed Devon by the collar with wide eyes. "WHAT?! Luna dating?! And just where the hell did you get an idea like that from?!" 

"Well I'm not the only one who has noticed that Luna has been acting weird lately. Your parents plus Lev and Gavin noticed it too." 

Lina let go of him and went to her own thoughts. Yes Luna had been acting weird recently. Sure was still overly temperamental, but so much as normal. She was only knocking out ten guys a day instead of her normal twenty-five. And she was actually ignoring Lina lately instead of her normal treatment. To anyone who didn't know her Luna seemed like she was acting all evil and angry, but to those to who did know her, they knew this was uncommonly nice for Luna's normal behavior. 

"Okay I'll admit, she's acting a little odd lately. But that doesn't mean that she's actually dating someone. Who would date her in the first place?!" 

"Well one of my trainees in my class asked me if Luna went to movies offten. I told him that she doesn't, but he told me that he saw her at the movies with some guy and they were being a bit more then friendly." 

And back Lina went into her wide eyed expression. "Was he sure that it was Luna? Could have been someone else." 

"That's what I thought. But that student knew what she looked like and he could see her very clearly. Plus he heard her date say her name a couple of times. And you know what this isn't the first time I've been told about something like this." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I heard from numerous people that they've spotted Luna out on dates with some guy with blue-green hair. Do you have any ideas who that could be?" 

Lina deftly shook her head. She was still in shock. The thought of someone actually dating Luna was defently very scary. 

"Lina could you do me a favor and not say this to anyone? There's still a small chance that this may not be true and I'd rather not have Luna tan my hide for spreading rumors." 

"Believe me I wont say a word." 

"Oh and if you do find out anything yourself could you please tell me?" 

"Yeah sure okay… I'd better be going now. I'll see you later Devon?" 

"Alright bye Lina." 

Lina walked back out into the hall still a bit dazed and confused. One thing was for sure she wasn't going to ask Luna about it. 

~*~

Luna sneezed. She looked around the room suspiciously. She shook it off and turned her attention back to the agents working with the main STF computer system. 

"Are you sure that everything checks out fine?" Luna demanded in her usual icy tone. 

"Yes Miss Luna, according to our computer and security system everything is fine. No intruders or unaccounted for personal are in the building." And agent with thick owl rimmed glass told her. The light reflections made the rims of the glasses make weird shadows on his face. 

"Alright then. Proceed with your normal work." Luna left saying nothing more to them. She felt this odd feeling that someone was in STF headquarters that shouldn't be. She had the green agents in the computer lab to double check the security system. Though everything checked out fine, Luna still couldn't shake the idea of something being very wrong. 'I think I'll go see Dad about this.' 

~*~

Zelgadis hummed to himself as the elevator neared his floor. He was in a pretty good mind to go do some training. 'Maybe Lina will be there again. It would be nice to have the chance to spare with her again.' He smiled and was a bit preoccupied with his thoughts when the elevator doors opened up. Zelgadis walked out without really looking on where he was going and he bumped right into someone. Zelgadis got up quickly and went to apologize to the man he had knocked over accidentally. 

"I'm very sorry. I wasn't thinking about where I was going." Zelgadis held out his hand to help the man up. The man avoided looking at Zelgadis in the face. 

"Oh no it's okay." 

"Here your hat I must have knock it off." Zelgadis picked up the strangers blue hat and handed it too him. 

"Thank you very much." The man quickly took the hat and put it back on. 

"Your welcome. Sorry again." And Zelgadis continued on his way back to the rec room, the place that he was heading for intentionally. 

The man adjusted his hat slightly. 'That was close. But that voice, and that hair seemed familiar somehow. I should have gotten a better look at his face. But then I would have things worse if he saw my face and recognized me. I bet that would have really gotten Vernas popping a few veins.' The man darkly smiled and continued walking on his way exploring the STF with a dark plan in mind. 

~*~

Zelgadis was cheerful as he went into the rec room. He checked all the personal training rooms till he found Lina in one of them. She was sitting on a bench deep in thought. 

"Hey there Lina." Zelgadis said to her in an easy going tone as he went to sit down next to her. 

But Lina didn't respond. She was still deep in thought. 

"Lina? Hey Lina are you there?" Zelgadis put his hand on her shoulder. That snapped her back to reality. 

"Oh hi there Zel. Didn't see you come in." Lina sheepishly smiled and laughed nervously. 

"Nor did you hear me. I called you twice. What's with you?" He looked at her with a puzzled expression. 

"Oh nothing, just thinking a little too hard about something. Anyway you wanna spare like we did yesterday?" 

"Sure but what type of training do you want to do today?" 

"How about some hand to hand combat?" Lina got up and did some stretching. 

He got up and joined her. "Sounds good to me." 

~*~

Ozer laughed inwardly as neared his destination. 'Well this ought to be fun. Maybe I can't get you Blitz, but Luna will do just nicely.' 


	15. STF part 15

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Fifteen, High Stakes

By Relm

~*~

One thing that Zelgadis learned about Lina was that she was stronger then she looks. At first when he started sparing with her he was going easy on her. He was under the impression that he could hurt her really badly if he didn't go easy on her. Of course he quickly change that opinion when he had been knocked to the ground for a forth time. So gave up holding back and went at it with all his abilities. But of course that didn't mean he was winning after that. He was still knocked down the only difference that he was knocking her down as well. 

~*~

Luna neared her father's office as she turned another corner. She still had that same feeling that there was something wrong and that there was an intruder in STF headquarters somewhere. 'What type of person can get into STF without being detected?' Their security systems were always being improved. They had the top of the line systems that not even a fly could get in without being noticed. This irked her quite a bit. Though Luna had no proof other then her gut instinct she was still bothered that an intruder might have got in. At her father's office she went to open the door and it was locked. She clicked on the door alert and still she got no answer. She used to her little compact computer to check to see if her father was in the room but he wasn't. Luna frowned, she didn't have any idea where her father could be nor did she have the time to go and search for him. So she gave up and headed back to her office. 

~*~

Ozer smiled at his handy work. He had tapped into the environmental controls for Luna's office. He also had a now empty bottle right next to him. 

~*~

Vernas whom had already dealt with his pained foot went back to work. Things were still weren't going to work at the way things were, but Vernas had thought of something that might help a bit. He looked over the original plans for the experiment. He wrote out a few extra equations and laughed victoriously. 

"So I wont even need some of those materials after all! Looks like I can get the plan into motion after all. All I need now is that shipment of chemicals and for Ozer to get back. Where the hell is he anyway?! Oh well I'm not going to bother with that now." And Vernas limped over to the kitchen to get himself something to eat. The piece of paper that Vernas had his plans for the experiment on fell to he ground. It had numerous equations on it and a quickly done sketch of a monstrous like thing. 

~*~

Both Zelgadis and Lina were in battle stances breathing very heavily. They were both glaring at each other but soon they could even hold that gaze and they both fell to the ground with a thud. 

"Tired?" Zelgadis managed to say huffing and wheezing. 

"Hell yeah!" Lina also said just as out of breath as he was. They both started to laugh out loud. When they eventually stopped they just laid there not saying a word. They were both very silent for a few moments as they tried to catch their breaths. 

"I think we over did it again Lina." 

"Yeah it seems that way. You know Zelgadis from what I've observed of you, you could easily get up to my level." Lina sat up to look at him. 

"You really think so?" Zelgadis also got up despite how much his body was screaming at him not to. 

"Oh yeah I'm very sure of it. I don't know about Martina, Zangulus and Gourry but you could definitely do it with no problem. But when are you planning on taking your level two read agent exams?" Lina got up and grabbed her bag and threw a couple of her snacks over to Zelgadis. She took a bite out of an apple. 

"Tomorrow." 

She nearly chocked on what she bit. In fact she was chocking. Luckily Zelgadis gave her a swift and hard pat on her back to get her to get out that chunk of apple. "What do you mean tomorrow?! You just became a level one agent yesterday!" 

"Hey I should be able to at least a level two ranking without any trouble. So the same day that I found out I was passed as a level one I signed up for my level two evaluations." 

Lina just shock her head smiling. "Well aren't you the over eager one. But what about the other guys? Aren't you going to be a little ahead of them?" 

"Oh they signed up the same time I did. So we'll all be taking them tomorrow." 

If Lina wasn't so tired she would have hit Zelgadis on the head or something. "And just why the hell didn't any of you tell me?!" 

"You never asked." 

Lina facefaulted. 

~*~

Ozer finished with his work went and retreated to a safe spot so that he could watch the fun and games. 

~*~

Luna came out of the elevator and walked towards her office. She stopped dead in her tracks. Something most definitely did not seem right. She pulled out her computer and tapped into the security system, but everything checked out normally. 'What in the devil is going on here? Why am I acting like this?' Luna glanced around the empty hallway. She was alone and eventually just shock off her paranoid feelings and went to her office door to unlock it. Little did she know that she wasn't alone after all. 

~*~

Back at the main computer room the green agents in charge there did their routine checks. They were all still a little bit mystified at Luan's suspicions. If Luna was right then somehow someone was able to get into STF headquarters without being noticed. 

"Sir you have to look at this!" One of the lower green agents said to highest ranked green agent there. What the lower the green agent pointed out was that the computer detected the same person in two different areas. One at the main entrance who had just been stopped and check for ID by security and the other just outside Luna's office. 

"Someone go get Mister Blitz! Also someone warn Miss Luna!" 

~*~

Luna slid her ID card through the scanner, punched in her pass codes and had her eye scanned. The door clicked and Luna opened it to go inside. The intruder alert warning was blaring everywhere in STF headquarters, except on Luna's floor. Somehow the alarm system had been shut off in her sector. When Luna went in the door shut behind her and locked. 

~*~

"What the hell is going on?!" Zelgadis yelled to Lina over the noise. 

"I don't know! No one's ever managed to break into STF before!" Lina yelled back to him. 

"Let's go and find out what's gong on!" Zelgadis yelled to her getting up. She nodded back to him and they headed for the main entrance center to STF. 

~*~

"What in the blazes is going on?!" Blitz yelled as he got into the main computer room. 

"Mister Blitz there is an intruder in STF headquarters! 

"I can see that! But how is it possible?!" 

"Whoever it was someone tricked it into believing that it was one of our agents who wasn't here. We wouldn't have even known unless that agent whom the intruder was impersonating hadn't came in." 

"Do you know where the intruder is now?" Blitz was unnerved, he honestly couldn't believe that STF headquarter security had been breached. 

"Outside Miss Luna's office!" 

"Where's Luna?!" Blitz's eyes widen in horror. 

"She's in her office right now! The intruder alarm system isn't working in her section nor can we get into her section at all!" 

"What do you mean?!" Blitz grabbed the lower ranked green agent that he was talking to by the collar. 

"All the doors and entrances into that section are closed off and locked. We can't get in!" Blitz let go of the agent in horror. Yes Luna could handle herself in tough situations, but a person who was able to get passed the highest ranked security system was obviously someone to be reckoned with. 

~*~

Luna turned herself around sharply. She tried the door it was locked and wouldn't budge. "What's going on?!" Luna yelled in the dark room unknowing of a odorless vapor circulating out of the vents. 

~*~

Blitz ran through the halls pushing people out of the way till someone grabbed him by the arm. 

"Dad what's going on?!" Lina yelled at her father over the noise. 

"There's a intruder and Luna might be in danger!" Blitz continued running through but with both Lina and Zelgadis following close behind. 

~*~

Ozer laughed darkly. "By the time you get here it will be too late. She'll would have already been affected." Clicked on his controls to make himself appear to the security systems as if he wasn't there. He opened one of the doors to let him out and set a timer to let the all the doors to the sector open once the vapor would have dissolved and not be deadly to anyone else. 

~*~

Luna was coughing violently. Her vision was going blurring and dark and she felt like her body had the consistency of jelly. She tried her hardest to get her door open, but she knew that it was a feeble attempt. The security and structure of the rooms made it impossible for the doors to be broken down and into. She was trapped. 

~*~

"Xellos, De Tanga can't either of you do something?!" Blitz yelled to the two monsters outside the perimeter to Luna's section. 

"You know as well as I do that all the rooms are guarded with special energy forces when the high security mode is on. Neither one of us can get in there." Xellos said calmly. He was disturbed by this situation but he saw no use in loosing his head. Unfortunately De Tanga didn't, he was about to scream in frustration. This puzzled Xellos, he had never seen De Tanga so stressed and worried before. 

"But how are we supposed to get in there?!" Just as Blitz had yelled that the doors opened. Everyone was shocked but eventually got a hold of themselves and went in. The computer couldn't detect the intruder anymore so the alarms had stopped. All the doors were unlocked except Luna's. Nor could they open it either. The bio controls weren't permitting the door from opening due to the foreign chemical contamination in the room. And it wasn't going to open till the bio controls dealt with the foreign agent. They all waited impatiently until the bio controls were done. When it was done the door finally opened and Luna's body fell down in the doorway. Her whole body was turning a blue color and her body was shaking with seizers. 

"Someone quickly get her to the medical labs!" Blitz screamed. 

~*~

A few hours later various yellow agents were tending to Luna in a special medical room. They had got her body stabilized but she was still in a coma. 

"What the hell is wrong with her?!" Blitz screamed Xellos, Filia and Rezo when they finally came out of the room to talk to Blitz, Lina, Zelgadis and the many other people who had been sitting there waiting. 

"We have no idea what it was that did it to her, all her know is that it was some sort of toxin that distributed in a vapor form from the air ventilation system. Somehow someone managed to tap into the environmental controls. This is all such a mystery." Rezo sighed with his hands in his pockets. 

"But will she be okay?" Faithe asked with teary eyes. She had been just as long as Blitz had and she was extremely worried. 

"We really have no idea. Her condition is stable, but we don't even know it that's good or bad. We don't know if it's a temporary thing or if she has a limited amount of time before things turn for the worse. I really wish I could tell you guys more. But we can get the person who did this then maybe we get the information we need from him or her." Rezo looked over to Blitz who had sunk farther in his chair. 

"The intruder who did this… I don't think we will be able to find him so easily." Blitz looked to the ground. He had been hoping that Rezo and the others had been able to find a way to help Luna without needing to find the intruder. 

"Why is that? You don't know who it was?" Rezo glanced at him confused. Blitz was usually very positive about everything, no challenge was too difficult for him. 

"Oh no we were able to find out who it was. The computer system managed to find a match to whom the aslant was. He even left a clue so that we would know that he did it." 

"Well if you know who it is then why in heaven's name can you catch him?" 

"Because it was Ozer." 


	16. STF part 16

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Sixteen, Time That Ticks Away

By Relm

~*~

Rezo, Filia and Xellos staggered back a bit. 

"Ozer?! It was _him_?" 

"Unfortunately yes it was. I guess it's not too surprising that the only person who had managed to break into STF was the worlds most notorious criminal mastermind." Blitz said solemnly. He seemed to be a mere shadow of himself. Depression had swept over him like a darken cloud. 

"Blitz we might not have a way to fix Luna's condition right now, but I'm going to do everything in my power to find a way to help her." Rezo declared with a firm tone. He looked to Filia and Xellos in agreement. They both nodded. 

"Thank you." Blitz said weakly. 

~*~

In the Vald city center building the government officials were having another one of their meetings. They had been notified on what had happened at STF headquarters. 

"This can't be happening! Ozer managed to break into STF headquarters without much trouble at all!" Senator Fibrizo exclaimed. They were all appalled on how Ozer had managed to do it. Many criminals had tried in the past to break into STF headquarters, they even had some of their most competent agents try, no had succeeded before until now. 

"Well he managed to do it and that's all. We shouldn't right now be dwelling on how he did it, we should be dwelling on why he did it." Senator Cassandra said calmly. She was the one of the only people in the room whom hadn't been surprised about STFs breach of security. The simple reason was that she had expected Ozer to do it. 

"He used some sort of toxin to poison Luna Inverse." 

"Yes I know that, but why did he do it to Luna? What's the reason for putting her life in danger without much gain?" 

"Quite simple, he's using it as a distraction." Lillian Greywers glared at Senator Cassandra with her cold blue eyes. The reason why Lillian took part in all these meetings was due to her abilities. Her methods of reasoning usually came out with the right answers to most of their problems. "In a way he's buying both himself and Vernas time to complete their little experiment. Considering how much the STF has managed to delay them so far Ozer needs to have a safety net of time to make sure that they have the time they need. And putting Luna's life in this situation is his way of doing so. He's managed to both boggle STF's best yellow agent's minds, as well as shake all the higher green agents. Do you think that Blitz would be able to think clearly and make good judgments knowing that his eldest daughter is lying on a bed possibly in the grips of death? And how do you think moral is in STF headquarters now that they know that their once thought to be impenetrable fortress isn't as safe as they once thought? Things aren't going to be good right now at STF headquarters, it's going to be chaotic so in a sense Ozer has succeeded in what he planned out to do today." Lillian's voice didn't waver all through her little analysis of their situation. She kept her cool and calm voice and demeanor. But no one doubted her assessment. They didn't need to go investigate to figure out that she was right. 

"But what do we do now?" Senator Deep Sea dared to ask the question that was going through everyone's heads. 

"Well perhaps Ozer is starting to think that he is invincible or he just doesn't care, but he left some valuable clues behind at STF headquarters. They might be useful or they might be pointless, we don't really know. But for now all we can do is go with our plans as we originally decided on and investigate more about the new clues we had been given. It will be difficult and we can't ignore what happened today but we'll just have to get everyone at STF to try to forget out these events temporarily. On the bright side though very few people know of the identity of the intruder. The only ones that know that it was Ozer are the ones who know that he had escaped." 

"If they had known that then things would really be bad." 

~*~

Ozer traveled through the underground tunnels of the laboratories that he called home. Most would make sounds walking through these dark tunnels but Ozer traveled through there soundlessly. Out of the shadows Ozer went to the main labs to go see Vernas but he wasn't in there. Things were scattered about and by the few broken items Ozer could surmise that Vernas had lost his temper again. Next place Ozer went was the kitchen to see if he was there. Ozer did find evidence that temperamental and estranged scientist had been there but now wasn't. Ozer was about ready to call out the scientist's name until he heard faint sounds of snoring. Upon further investigation Ozer found the source of the snoring. Vernas had fallen asleep in his chair. 

"Vernas…" Ozer said tiredly at him. When he got response he tired saying his name louder. Then he pulled out the glass of ice water in his hand and poured it over Vernas' head. 

"Huh? What?! What's going on?!" Vernas sputtered awake. 

"Good to see that you are awake now." Ozer smiled smugly. 

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Vernas screamed at him at the top of his lungs. The veins in his head were popping out. 

"Oh just making a little visit." Ozer darkly laughed. 

"To where?" 

"Oh no were special, just visiting an old friend." 

"Who?" 

"Luna Inverse." 

"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?!?! You IDIOT! You went to STF HEADQUARTERS?!" 

"That's right. It was kinda nice strolling around the place. I already knew the exact floor plans to the complex but I hadn't actually been STF headquarters before." 

"How the hell could you get in there without getting caught?!" 

"Well I was actually able to get in without getting noticed. It wasn't till later after being there for a little while that they actually noticed that there was intruder. But by then it was already too late." Ozer pulled out the bottle that had contained the toxin that Ozer had used in Luna's office's environmental controls. 

"Wait that's the bottle for the that experimental toxin #32c that I made last week. What did you do with it? I hadn't been able to find a cure for the effects yet." 

"Good, so then I don't have to worry about her." Ozer placed the bottle in the decontamination box. 

"You mean you used that on Luna Inverse?!" 

"Yes, I thought it would buy us some more time to play." 

"That's fantastic, you're a genus Ozer! Though I wish you could have told me earlier so I could have made a copy sample of it because that was our only one but that doesn't matter. Yeah no Luna Inverse to get in our way!" Vernas laughed psychotically. 

"Vernas, would you be able to make another sample of that toxin?" 

"Huh? Ah no if I still had the sample of the original toxin I might have been able to duplicate it. But the toxin itself was a fluke and the chances of being able to create it again are very slim." 

"But does it kill the people it infects?" 

"I really have no idea, I didn't really get the time to test it." Vernas mused. He did have something he was going to tell Ozer, but he was having trouble trying to remember. "Damnit now what was I going to tell you? Hmm… oh yes I remember! I did some testing and calculations earlier and it turns that we wont even need some of those chemicals after all." 

Ozer raised an eyebrow. "You've managed to shorten the needed chemicals list? That's interesting…" He smiled an evil grin. 'Wont be long know, and soon chaos shall rein upon the world.' 

~*~

Rezo checked the computer scans again that was monitoring Luna's condition. Her condition hadn't change one bit since Blitz and the others had left. Rezo shock his head. This toxin had him completely baffled he didn't know what it was doing to Luna's system but the effects were just mind-boggling. It really made Rezo angry, here he was STFs most brilliant mind and couldn't even figure out a damn thing about the toxin. 'I just know that Vernas created this thing. Who else would make such a dangerous poison with such unpredictable effects?!' Rezo sighed. There was still a chance that if Vernas and Ozer were caught then they could get the cure from them. But even then Rezo was doubtful. 'If it was Vernas who made this toxin then it's very much possible that he made it without having any means to cure it.' 

Ever since this whole case started up Rezo had been scanning through all the information he could get on Vernas' theories and experiments. Rezo had quickly come to the conclusion that Elbor Vernas was a madman. His experiments and theories were so out of whack and dangerous that it made Rezo wonder how Vernas even got his medical degree in the first place. 

As for Ozer now that was a completely different story. No one knew where Ozer came from or what his true intensions were. Investigators as well as many STF agents tried to track down his birth certificate, but no place had a record of his birth. Ozer had first appeared in Vald city five years ago when he kidnapped the mayor's eldest daughter and held her for ransom. Ozer got exactly what he wanted and let her go. He had only been fooling around testing his abilities. But that was the first incident. Ozer did lots more things, things that had been deemed impossible in the past. Like today, breaking into STF headquarters. But the weirdest thing was that the things he did in Vald were the only recorded crimes that Ozer had committed. No one knew if it was because Ozer had never been caught before or if he never did anything before he came to Vald. But one thing was for sure, no one had even known of Ozer's existence before he came to Vald. 

"Dr. Rezo, take a look at this." One of the lower yellow agents hailed the highest ranking scientist. Since of the severity of both cases Luna had been placed in a room right next to where they were conducting the tests on the clues that Ozer left behind. This way the STF's most brightest yellow agents could work on both problems at the same time. 

"What is it?" Rezo asked the lower yellow agent who was scanning one of the 'clues' Ozer left. What they meant by clues was that Ozer had left some of his DNA behind. Normally Ozer would be extra careful and make sure that didn't even leave a single hair behind. This case was different. 

"Ozer's cell structures are far more advanced than I have ever seen. I doubt he is even human." 

'You can tell that much just by looking at him.' Rezo grimly thought. Ozer was a mystery to everyone. He possessed strength and abilities like a demon and he had a physical body like a human. But he healed fast just like a monster and could summon up large amounts of power to shoot a bio gun like a dragon. "Yes I already knew that. And if that's the only reason you brought me over here then-" 

"That's not all, take a look a his cell structure." 

Rezo complied and looked through the computers scans. If he had normal eyes instead of eye implants then his eyes would be wide in shock. "This isn't possible! There has to be a mistake." 

"That's what I thought at first too. But I double checked, then checked again. And then two more times. The computers are working correctly as well they are scanning the cell sample correct." 

"Then the cell sample must be wrong." Rezo was in disbelief. He couldn't think of any scientific reason on how to explain it other then it must be a mistake. 'This has to be wrong. This can't be correct. It just defies logic, it's impossible.' 

"I checked that too. Everyone of Ozer's DNA samples all come out with the same results. Nor have the samples been tampered with." The lower yellow agent was about as reluctant as Rezo to believe what had been put before them. But he had been trying for almost two hours since he got results to explain it. He didn't want to confront Rezo with this until he could think of some logical reasoning. But he gave in and hoped that maybe Rezo could figure it out. 

"But how can this be? Ozer looks at least twenty! How can his cell structure and properties show that he's only six years old?" Rezo whispered more to himself than to the other yellow agent. 

"And gets worse then that." The agent pointed at another scan. "I was trying to divide his cell's to see if there is any human genetics in his DNA. There was and the computer could even find a close match to it within its' DNA database of STF personal." 

"Who does it match too?" If Rezo hadn't already been shocked by the other cell scans he would have been very surprised upon hearing this. 'Could Ozer have relatives in STF?' 

"That's the problem. Every time it's about to finish the match up Ozer's cells start to mutate and then it messes up the scan. It's like his cells are aware of our scans." 

"What happens to the cells after they mutate?" 

"The return back to their original form. Tell me Dr. Rezo, can you make sense of any of this?" He looked to the highest-ranking yellow agent in STF with hopeful eyes. Only that highest-ranking agent was just as mystified as him. 


	17. STF part 17

STF, Slayers Task Force

  


Part Seventeen, Just a Dream or a Revelation?

  


By Relm

~*~

All through the night various shifts of yellow agents watched over Luna Inverse. And all through the night her condition remained the same. No one made many comments it was mostly silent. Perhaps a lot were still in shock and maybe others worried but still they worked hoping to find the answers to the mysteries that had been set before them. 

No one made any comment to those who stayed and watched the yellow agents work through the glass. Blitz himself had been there but even he had to leave to retire to his bed. But one man stayed hour after hour and did not leave. Not like he needed sleep anyway. Some had thought it that he should be told to go home and rest, but no one had the heart to tell him to leave. He was a nervous wreck his normally blue green hair that been held back in a neat small ponytail was loose and messy and his brilliant blue green eyes looked hollow and worried. So he watched, waiting for something to happen all through the night. 

~*~

At the Inverse household things were quiet too. Everyone was worried and shaken up. No one said nor ate much at dinner. They all just did their business and went to their rooms. Lina sat on her bed looking up at the ceiling. She knew that she should be sleeping but she couldn't sleep. 'I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.' Lina turned on a lamp and looked around the room for something to do but she couldn't think of anything. That is till her eyes locked on her phone. She picked it up without knowing who to call. Lina went over to her bag and pulled out a rumpled piece of paper with a few phone numbers written on it. 'Hmm… I guess I could call him but would he still be up? Or would this be too late?' After a few minutes of thought wrestling she eventually dialed up a number. 

~*~

Zelgadis was just about to fall asleep when the phone rang. 

"Now who could that be?" He mused rubbing his eyes as he went to pick up the phone. 

~*~

Lina waited another ring. 'Maybe this is a bad idea, he's probably sleeping.' Lina was just about to hang up the phone when someone answered. 

_"Hello?"_

"Um, hi Zel it's Lina." Lina nervously fiddled with the phone cord. 

_(short silence) "Hi Lina. This is a surprise." _

"I didn't wake you did I?" 

_"Oh no I hadn't fallen asleep." 'Yet. But I'm not going to tell her that.'_

"Oh." Lina paused and there was silence over the phone. 

_"Lina? Are you still there?"_

"Um yeah I am." 

_"You know the thought just occurred to me. How did you get my phone number? I didn't exactly tell you it."_ There was a slight mischievous tone to his voice or at least that's what it sounded like to Lina. 'Am I hearing things right? Could it be that little shy Zel is flirting with me?' Lina smiled at that thought. 

"Well a magician never reveals her secrets." 

_"And since when have you been a magician. Hmm?"_

Lina just laughed softly. But she couldn't help but think back to her sister. Her laughed died out leaving another lapse of silence. 

_"Lina what's wrong?"_

Lina didn't answer him. 

_"Lina?"_

"I guess I'm just a little unnerved about what happened to my sister." 

_"Yeah I guess it was quite a shock wasn't it. STF is supposed to be the one of the safest most highly secure places, to think that someone could get in so easily."_

"Well it's not really that actually. I never really thought that STF was so impenetrable as everyone made it out to be. I don't know I guess it's because of Luna." 

_"Oh."_

"You know when I was little me, Gavin and Lev always depended on each other. But Luna was always the independent one. She never needed anyone; she was always so smart and strong. No one could beat her. I guess me like a lot of people just started thinking of her as some sort of superhuman that could never be brought down." 

_"And since all this you've come to realize that she's normal just like everyone else."_

"I've also come to realize that things aren't always as safe as they seem. That anyone can be in danger." 

_"And it's causing you have trouble sleeping?"_

"Yup." 

_"So why call me?"_

"Because I had your phone number and I thought it would be nice to call you." 

_"And just how many phone numbers have you 'acquired' recently?"_

"I don't know. Hey Zel?" 

_"Hmm?"_

"You want to come over?" 

Silence over the phone yet again. 

"Zelgadis?" 

_"Um when?"_

"I don't know, sometime maybe another day down the road…" Lina smiled. Zelgadis didn't say anything but she could have sworn he sighed in relief. 

_"Sure I guess…"_

"Well I guess I should let you go. You need your sleep for the level two examinations tomorrow." 

_"Ah yeah um I'll see you tomorrow?"_

"Yup. Goodnight Zelgadis…" 

_"Ah, um goodnight to you too Lina."_

(Click) 

Lina smiled as she put down the phone. She felt much better and she snuggled in her bed as the sweetness of slumber overtook her. 

~*~

Zelgadis on the other was wide-eye and staring at the phone. He eventually shook himself out of it and put the phone down. Sitting on his bed he realized that chances are he wouldn't be able to sleep. He was now wide awake and still trying to contemplate on how exactly did Lina 'acquire' his phone number. 'It's not like she could just look up in the phone directory, I have an unlisted number.' Long ago Zelgadis had realized that it would be safer for his well being if kept his number unlisted and address not known to the public. Being a police officer was not always the safest of jobs but also having a father whom people were quite willing to murder, taught Zelgadis that he should be cautious. 'Oh well however she did it that really doesn't matter right now. What matters is how am I going to fall asleep?' Zelgadis mused as he walked over to his kitchen. 

~*~

_Lina was walking in the hallways of STF headquarters only something wasn't right. The lights were all darken like as if there had been a power outage. Also the place was completely deserted. _

"Hello? Anyone here?" Lina's voice echoed through the halls, but with no answer to return her question, everything was silent. 

What was also weird is that Lina was exactly sure where in STF she was. She knew practically every inch of the building, floors, rooms, hallways, but not here. She didn't recognize the hall she was in. To most all the halls look the same but for someone like Lina, she could tell the differences in them. Like the one she was in now had dark colored strip on the bottom of the wall where the edge met the floor. Because it was dark she could make out what color it was but normally the color strips were at the top edge of the wall. The shapes of the doors also weren't right. The were wider then usual and shorter too. She could also she weird markings on them of symbols that she didn't know the meaning of. One door had a triangle on it, another a square. Some had circles while others had 'x's. Lina was getting more and more confused the farther she walked into the hallway. 

"Hello? Hello?!' But again no answer. Lina looked around the empty hallway then she noticed something she didn't see before. The hallway ended at a single door that was very large. The hallways never ended at a room, they always connected to another hallway, an elevator or stairway. When Lina approached the door she could see more of those symbols only a little more elaborate. A very large circle was in the middle but it had no inside. It was just an outline of a circle. And in the circle was a square and inside the square was a star. And outside the circle there were triangles around it. 

First Lina wasn't sure on what to do. Then she decided to knock. She did a light knock, and got no answer. Then she tied knocking harder, still nothing. Then she tried pounding on the door and still no answer. 

"Well then I guess I'll just try and open it then." And did try, but it was locked. Beside the door was a little scanner where you swipe a card through. The door was obviously card key locked. But what was strange is that there wasn't a button panel. Just a thing for swiping the cards. Which was strange because all the doors in STF that have card key locks required to punch in a password after the card is swiped through. They had been like that for many years. It was almost as if this door was out of date in technology. 

"What the hell am I supposed to do? I don't have a damn key card!" Lina fumed until she noticed that she did have something in her pocket. She pulled it out and it was a strange looking key card. It was an STF key card, that much Lina could tell by the STF insignia on it, but it also had the same symbols on it that were on the door. She tried swiping the card through and oddly enough the door unlocked and opened. 

"Now how did I get this…?" Lina whispered to herself but went into the room. 

An odd thing happened as she walked into the room. Before when she was in the hallway, though it was dark she could still see some color. But when she walked in the mystery room everyone lost its color. Even her. Everything was shades of black, gray and white like a really old movie. Lina stared blankly at her arm for a moment till she heard a sound from further in the room. That brought her back to reality and glanced around at what she could see of the room. It was dimly lit but she could see various beakers, test tubes, books, papers and computers. It was obviously a laboratory of some sort. Then she heard the noise again. It was coming from a small room that was attached to this one at the far corner. 

"Hello? Whose there?!" Lina yelled to the dark little room that she couldn't see properly, but whomever was in that room either didn't hear her or wish to answer. She proceeded very slowly to the room trying not to move anything. Once she had made her way to the other room what she saw was a man working on some sort of experiment. He was absorbed with his work and was somehow unable. The appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties and she felt that he looked familiar somehow but she couldn't place her finger on who. 

"Hello can you hear me? Where are we? What is this place?" Lina asked him stepping into the room. But the man didn't hear her. He continued with his work not even noticing that Lina was there. It was almost as if Lina were a ghost or something. Lina was just about to leave when the man suddenly turned his head sharply and glared at Lina. She was shocked because now she could recognize him. It was Elbor Vernas. Lina was frozen in spot and couldn't move. She couldn't move even when Vernas came charging at her with a knife and tore it through her stomach. She tried to scream in pain but her voice was gone. 

~*~

Lina screamed very loud when she work up in her bed. She was shaking with cold sweat plastering her clothes to her like a second skin. 

"Lina are you alright?" Blitz put his hands on his daughter's shoulders. When Blitz, Faithe, Gavin, Leviathan and Devon had heard Lina's streaming they ran into her room right away. 

"It-it-it w-w-was a-a-a dream?" Lina stuttered out in a weak voice. 

"Yes Lina it was a dream. A very bad dream." Faithe reassured her. "Come on dear maybe I should go downstairs to the kitchen and we'll make you up some tea or soup or something." 

Lina nodded weakly. 

~*~

Hours later at STF headquarters Lina was thinking very hard sitting in the indoor gardens. Her family had advised her not to go to work today but Lina had insisted because Zel, Martina, Zangulus and Gourry were taking their next evaluations today and she needed to be there. But she came early partly because she couldn't figure out what to do. 

What she was thinking about was her dream. What did it mean? Was there a reason for it? Why did she have it? But the biggest question to her was Vernas. 'Why was Vernas in STF? And why did he appear to be in his late teens or early twenties? He's over forty years old.' "Doesn't make sense…" Lina mumbled. 

"What doesn't make sense?" De Tanga appeared next to her and sat down. 

"De Tanga you look like a mess!" Lina exclaimed at the usually neat monster. 

"Thanks. You don't look so good either." De Tanga said in a dry tone. But he was right Lina didn't look her best either. "So what doesn't make sense?" 

"A dream I had last night… Hey De Tanga how long have you been working here?" 

"Um, well as long as your family has been working here. Why do you ask?" 

"Do you remember people who have worked here in the past?" Lina had a brainstorm developing in her head. 

"Only people I've taught. But you could go see someone in the main computer room. They have records of every person whose ever worked at STF." 

"Thanks De Tanga!" Lina sped off very fast. 

De Tanga just stared at her as she ran off a bit confused. He didn't know exactly what she was up too. 


	18. STF part 18

STF, Slayers Task Force

  


Part Eighteen, Aftermath 

  


By Relm

~*~

Lina was sprinting over to the main computer room still wondering herself exactly what she was doing. She did have an idea in her little head, but the idea itself was farfetched. 

'What am I doing?' Lina asked herself as she slowed down to a stop. 'I'm probably going to be wrong, but what if it's true? Why wouldn't they have told us? Oh what am I thinking?! It was only a dream.' She turned around to go back but only to find herself still heading over to the main computer room. Crazy or not I've got to rule this out today or I'll go nuts!' But perhaps fate wasn't with her because at that moment she glanced at her watch only to realize that she needed to go to the examination prep rooms. 'When did the time go so fast? Must have been musing over the dream longer then I thought.' So she was sprinting again but this time away from the main computer room. 

~*~

Leviathan, Martina, Zangulus, Zelgadis and Gourry were already at the examination prep room wondering where exactly Lina was. 

"Lina shouldn't even be at work today." Leviathan said more to himself then to Zelgadis who was sitting next to him. 

"Why is that? Oh wait I guess the whole Luna situation would be a good reason wouldn't it?" Zelgadis said absently glancing around the room. Gourry was having a sparing match with Zangulus whom was also having a rather loud argument with Martina. Both Leviathan and Zelgadis sweatdropped and ignored the odd three. 

"Well actually that's not what I meant. Lina had a very bad nightmare last night. She woke up screaming early this morning." 

"A nightmare? How would that be a good reason to miss work?" 

"Well Lina never has nightmares. Let alone ones where she's screaming bloody murder. She wouldn't tell anyone of us what exactly the dream was about. She was just quiet for the most part then later she seemed fine like nothing had happened. And besides even if it wasn't a good reason Dad would have just made some excuse to the STF board about her not being able to come to work. Being the kid of a high ranked green agent does have it's advantages." Leviathan face lit up with a sly smile, which quickly changed to one of deep thought. 

Lina came running in an almost Amelia like manner and to make it complete trips and falls and tumbles towards Leviathan. Lev and Zelgadis went over to the out of breath red agent while Gourry, Zangulus and Martina didn't because as much of a racket and scene Lina had made they didn't even notice her. 

"Pulling a Amelia huh?" Leviathan chuckled lending a hand to his twin sister and helping her up. 

"Well I wasn't sure what time it was and I didn't realize I needed to get over here until I was on the other side of STF headquarters. So what's with them?" Lina stared in astonishment at the three. At this point Gourry was still sparing with Zangulus and Martina was still arguing with him. The only difference is that Zangulus was also dodging the various items that Martina was throwing at him. 

"I have no idea. Something about Martina flirting with Devon and Zangulus being jealous. I think I'm going to have to ask Devon the details because everything that I've managed to find out was from what I could hear of the argument and what Gourry told me. Naturally I don't quite trust the information I got from Gourry." Leviathan rolled his eyes while both Lina and Zelgadis chuckled. 

"Hey Lev did you know that Lina has my phone number?" 

Leviathan raised an eyebrow at that piece of information. "Oh really you gave her your number?" 

"No that's the funny part I didn't give her my number nor can you find it the public phone directory. My number is unlisted." Zelgadis himself gave a sly smile to Lina while Lev's face showed obvious interest. 

"But then how could she get your number?" 

Lina just smiled and shrugged. 

Zelgadis was going to say something when a shoe hit him on the head. 

"Opps I'm so sorry Zelgadis!" Martina came over while the Zangulus and Gourry stopped their sparing. It seems that Martina had thrown her shoe with the intensions of hitting Zangulus but he dodged and it well you can get the rest. 

"Ha ha Martina! Can even hit a person with a shoe right!" Zangulus laughed only to have the said person throw the said shoe right in his face. Did it stop there? No, she picked up that shoe again and started repeatedly beaming him over the head. 

"We should do something to stop this shouldn't we?" Zelgadis, Leviathan, Lina and Gourry gaped at the two with mouths open and eyes wide. 

"Stop those two? That would be suicidal." Gourry said very sagely. Well of course he knows from experience the dangers of trying to pry Martina off Zangulus while she was dishing out Zangulus' punishment. 

"Does he like to feel pain?" 

"I really have no idea…" 

~*~

A few hours later the four level one soon to be level two agents (provided they passed) sat around at a table dead tired. No one said anything to anyone else all was quiet. 

"So how do think it went? Was it fun?" Leviathan asked all cheery as he came in with Lina. 

Four pairs of tired and not amused eyes glared in Leviathan's general direction. 

"Why exactly was those examinations so much harder then the ones we did before?" Martina complained. 

"Well level two examinations are naturally going to be harder then level one. It would just be ridiculous otherwise if it wasn't harder. But you see level two has to be way harder then level one to determine who has what it takes to be an agent and who doesn't. Level two is the equivalent to your rank as police officers." Lina said sitting down at the table addressing them. Leviathan continued where Lina left of. 

"And most of the jobs that are done here are usually at least a level two. Level one agents even though they are agents are more or less still thought of and treated like trainees. And another reason why it may seem so much harder is because you guys only had a few days in between your exams. You were probably still mentally and physically not prepared for it." 

Lina was going to add some more to that until she remembered that she still hadn't been over to the main computer room yet. "Um guys I've got to go check up on something. I'll see you all later?" 

"Where are you going Lina?" 

"I'm heading over to the main computer room." Lina got up and grabbed her stuff. She made a mental note to head over to her office to pick up the case files. 

"And since it's on the other side of the complex I'm assuming that was where you were before. But what do you going to do over there?" 

"Just following up on a hunch. Anyway, bye guys!" 

"Bye Lina." The five said mostly in unison. 

~*~

De Tanga stared off into space as he sat in the indoor gardens. Now some of you might be thinking along the lines of 'wasn't he there before when he was talking to Lina?' Well yes and that was a few hours ago. The question is did he leave? No he didn't. After Lina left he went and sat down and basically kept the same statue like position that he was in now. On a normal basis he couldn't do that, but currently due to the whole Vernas and Ozer case De Tanga didn't have any students or other duties he'd normally have. But what was going through his monster mind? Well the thought of eating wasn't there but maybe it should. De Tanga hadn't had a thing to eat since yesterday. People had tried to get him eat things like apples and stuff but he refused saying that he wasn't hungry. But then another question arises, why would a monster be offered food like that? 

~*~

(The scene freezes and a white haired British historian appears with a screen slide show protector, slides and a pointer. The room gets dark with only a faint spotlight on the historian.) 

~*~

"Well it's actually quite simple. There was once a time where monsters were enemies with other people like humans. But then a common enemy appeared and monsters, humans, dragons and many others found themselves all fighting on the same side. So a pact was created and for once there was peace among the races even after the war was over. But of course except for the select few monsters, most of them fed of negative emotions. And usually the monster race would do terrible things to evoke these emotions. With the new pact that wouldn't work. So they found alternative means for the monster race to feed themselves. Basically they made it possible for them eat mortal food. Of course they could still feed off emotion. And now let's get back to De Tanga shall we?" 

~*~

(Scene goes back to De Tanga while the historian leaves with all his things) 

~*~

People have walked by and noticed De Tanga and gave him concerned glances. But De Tanga was unresponsive, he was deep in thought and it was almost as if his body may be there but his mind was elsewhere. 

"De Tanga old friend what is wrong with you?" Xellos asked in an uncharacteristic tone of concern as he hops down from one of the trees near De Tanga. He had phased in and appeared there a few minutes ago and had been watching De Tanga since. 

"…" 

"De Tanga? Are you in there?" Xellos asked waving his hand in front of his friend's face. "You know if you don't answer me soon I might be forced to do something drastic." Xellos said in a cheery voice and when he got no answer he took that as a challenge and dumped a whole tub full of ice cold water that somehow magically appeared out of now where like what happens so many times in cartoons and you don't know how that could happen. 

"Huh, WHAT?! Oh it's only you." De Tanga looked at Xellos in only an expression of slight annoyance. 

"What is wrong with you today? Filia-dear sent me hear to find out what was wrong with you because so many people had been concerned about you. What are you practicing to become a statue?" 

"…" De Tanga went back to staring at nothing again. 

"Come on what's wrong? You can tell me." 

"What would you do if someone hurt Filia?" De Tanga gave Xellos a tired and dry look. If Xellos had had his eyes open he would have been blinking. 

"What does that got to do with anything?!" 

"You'd be very upset wouldn't you?" 

"Over that temperamental and overbearing dragon? You've got to be kidding me. I might be a little annoyed but nothing too extreme." Xellos avoided looking in De Tanga's direction. Yes his eyes were open at this point and he could feel De Tanga's eyes glaring at him. 

"Xellos you lie to me, but you shouldn't lie to yourself." De Tanga got up and started to walk away. 

"Where are you going?" 

"I don't know. But shouldn't you be getting back to the labs to help Filia and Rezo?" Xellos didn't get a chance to answer because De Tanga teleported away right after he finished speaking. 

~*~

Lina was now over at the fifth section of security on the way over to the main computer rooms. She had the case file in hand and was almost at the room. At last she reached the final bit of security to get in. Once she had done that she was at the entrance to the room. 

"Oh hello Lina, are you doing okay?" Green agent Smu Bishop said to Lina as she entered the room. Smu was the lowest ranking green agent that worked in the main computer room. He was the one that did most of the on demand research work in the computer database that was required some cases. 

"I guess I'm a little shaken up about what happened yesterday. But it's silly to think that this place was completely impenetrable and we have the greatest medical minds working on a way to help Luna so things aren't really that bad." Lina went over to Smu and took the chair next to him. 

"So Lina what brings you here? A visit?" He looked at her hopefully. Most people thought he was strange so he didn't really get along socially with many people. He worked fine with them, but outside of work they all tried to stay away from him. But of course Lina knew otherwise, when growing up around STF you get to know many people well and Smu like many other people in STF was a person that Lina almost thought of as an uncle or older brother. 

"Sorry this isn't a social call. I kinda need a favor." 

"A favor huh? Big favor? Small favor? Challenge worth my while?" 

"A little of both one and three. I've got this little thought that is gnawing away in my head and I can't get rid of it unless I prove it wrong." 

"Okay then, so this is to put your mind at ease. So shoot what challenge have you to put before me?" Smu dawned a pair of rather silly looking over sized glasses that he always wears when he does his work. He claims it's his thinking glasses and that they help him think and concentrate. 

"First off in the personal records has there ever been a Elbor Vernas registered as an STF agent at one point?" Lina got out her files and stuff while Smu looked at her with an odd look. 

"You think that Vernas might have been a STF agent? Wow that would very wacky. Let's check." Smu typed up some factors and the computer came up with a match. "Well I'll be damned. Vernas was a STF agent at one point in his life. Or should I say trainee. According to this Elbor Vernas was registered as an orange agent 26 years ago. Only due to his attitude and other various problems he was discharged from STF permanently without a chance of ever being able to re-register again." 

Lina frowned. 'He was an orange agent? But in the dream I could swear that he was a yellow agent.' "Anything about him after that?" 

"Nope, he dropped out of STF records completely until some of his more recently illegal science experiment blunders." 

Lina frowned again. 'This isn't what I was expecting. I would have expected him to be a yellow agent because of that lab with the lack of color and - wait a minute! There was not color!' "Smu can you show me pictures of every agent that registered after Vernas was discharged and compare it with Vernas' orange agent file picture?" 

"Sure. Any special reason?" 

"Got a hunch. Oh and you make the pictures all black and white including the one of Vernas?" 

"Yep done and done." Smu typed in some commands and soon enough the computer was doing picture comparison with Lina controlling the scrolling speed. Lina kept going until she saw something a few pictures back and what she saw was a perfect picture of the same Elbor Vernas that she had seen in her dream. 

"Well I'll be damned again." There was no doubt about it they were both the same person. Smu took off the black and white command. The first picture of Vernas was him how everyone knows him to be with his orange eyes and brown hair. The second was one was him only with reddish blond hair and blue eyes. "According to this Elbor Vernas 22 years ago, four years after his discharge went to assume a new identity under the name Darrik Clay. He then registered in STF as a yellow agent and went and assumed a very high position but was still far from Rezo's status. And do to some incident where he almost killed another yellow agent with a knife he was sentenced to prison only to have escaped. Apparently the other yellow agent whom Vernas had attacked had seen exactly what experiments that Vernas was running and was going to stop him when Vernas knifed the agent. Of course do to Rezo's intervention the agent was saved but just barely." Smu trailed off and looking at the screen with astonishment. Then he looked at Lina. "Lina what made you think of an idea like this?" Smu's head was still rolling. The mere thought of that criminal mad scientist actually being an agent at STF was giving him chills. Of course it didn't bother him, he actually thought it was very intriguing. He would have never had thought of it and was very surprised that Lina had. But this wasn't the first time that Lina had surprised him. 

"As odd as it might sound, I got the idea in a dream. Thanks Smu, bye." Was all Lina said as she picked up her stuff and left. 


	19. STF part 19

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Nineteen, Some things Better, Some things Worse

By Relm

~*~

Blitz just sat at his desk still staring at the file folder that Lina had given him to look at before she left. He couldn't believe it. He was aware of Vernas' original registration into STF but he couldn't believe that Vernas had managed to get in a second time. But the thing that confused Blitz the most was how exactly did Lina think of something like this. He didn't fret about it for long because he had to finish his report to the STF higher officials. 

~*~

Vernas sneezed. 

"Getting a cold are you?" Ozer looked with mild curiosity to Elbor Vernas. 

"It does make sense since I've been cooped up down in this dark cavern place for so long. But I don't feel like I'm coming down with something. Anyway how are plans going right now Ozer?" 

"Since your discovery things appear to be going a bit more smoothly. We are even going to be able to get the plans in motion soon or later. It's just a matter of getting the last of our needed materials. And hopefully since my little venture into STF headquarters, STF wont be able to interfere as much as they had before." 

"I'm kinda wondering if Luna Inverse is dead yet." 

"If she isn't yet then I wouldn't be surprised. Inverse's do have a tendency to be a bit hard to get rid of." 

~*~

Luna's condition hadn't changed at all. She was still the same and her condition was still boggling every yellow agent's minds that were assigned to help. No one could seem to figure out the toxin or a way to help Luna. But Rezo on the other hand did find something familiar about the toxin but he couldn't place his finger on it. He took a quick break and he was greeted by Blitz. 

"How's Luna doing?" 

"More of the same. Sorry we haven't been able to do anything helpful yet." 

"As long as your trying. But Rezo I just came across some information that you might find useful. Tell me do you remember a man named Darrik Clay?" 

"Hmm… Clay? That does sound familiar. Oh yes now I remember! He was that rather unruly fellow whom was kicked out of STF because of his experiments as a yellow agent and what he did to a fellow agent." Rezo mused thinking to back then. Clay had attacked another agent and that agent had almost died. It did confused Rezo quite a bit back then because he rather admired Clay quite a bit. He was a bright man whom seemed have a bright future. It was appalling to find out he was doing illegal experiments and that he'd even go as far as attacking a fellow agent just because they found him out. 

"Well I'm not sure what was Lina's motivation was, but she went searching through the files and figured out that Darrik Clay was actually Elbor Vernas pretending to be someone else." 

"What?! They are the same person?! That is very odd." 

"Yeah but can that be of any help to you?" 

"It might be. We still have Clay's I mean Vernas' work files. There might be some information about some of Vernas' early work that might help us figure out some of the toxin's properties." 

For once in the past day and a half Blitz smiled. "Thanks Rezo." 

"No thank Lina for finding us this bit of information. Now if you excuse me I have a lot of work to do." 

Blitz excused the high ranking yellow agent and let him get back to his work. 

~*~

Lina sat down at a table wondering if she was supposed to be relived or unnerved that her dream had some truth to it. 'Why did I even dream something like that? It just seems so weird.' She mused while eating a cup of strawberry yogurt uncharacteristically slow. 

"Hello earth to Lina? Is there someone in there?" Leviathan joked as he took a seat next to his sister. 

"Of course I'm here. What would give you reason to think otherwise?" 

"Well you just looked so spaced out. What are you thinking about anyway?" 

"Remember that dream I had that? Well I dreamt that I was in STF headquarters, only I didn't recognize where in STF I was. There were things far too different about the halls and stuff. But then I ended up in this weird laboratory in STF somewhere and everything turned black and white like one of those ancient old movies. And in the lab I found Vernas working on something. Only Vernas was a definitely younger and he didn't seem to be able to hear me." 

"Then what happened?" 

"He turned and saw me and charged me with a knife and slashed my stomach." Lina mentally shuddered. Though it had only been a dream, it had seemed and felt so real. 

"That's definitely a very strange nightmare." 

"Well it gets weirder then that. I thought of this idea that maybe Vernas had worked in STF when he was younger but I wrote it off as being a stupid idea." 

"But you did end up checking it up didn't you?" 

"Yeah I went to see Smu. Apparently Elbor Vernas was an orange agent 26 years ago and was permanently discharged from STF soon after. But then four years later Vernas dyed his hair and wore contacts and signed up for STF again under a different name. This time he was being a yellow agent instead of trying to go for a red agent position." 

"Let me guess he was discharged again for attacking a fellow agent?" 

"Yup. That fellow agent saw exactly what experiments Vernas was working on. So Vernas attacked the person to shut them up. Of course that agent didn't die, Rezo managed to save the agent." 

"Lina I have to say this, that is really creepy!" 

"Oh yeah I'm well aware of that. The whole situation seems to defy logic in a way. I can't explain how or why I had the dream nor am I going to try. So how are things with the others?" 

"Gourry went off to see a girl named Sylphiel, Martina and Zangulus walked off arguing again and Zelgadis went to see if he could find his father. Lina I had no idea that Zelgadis' father worked at STF, did you?" 

"Nope, but then I didn't know that Rezo was Zel's great-grandfather either." 

"But speaking of Zel, Lina how exactly did you manage to get his phone number anyway?" Leviathan looked to his sister with a questioning glance. Lina just smiled coyly back. 

"You want to know how I got his number?" 

"Yes." 

"Well it's… a secret." Lina laughed while Leviathan grumbled. 

~*~

Zelgadis had no idea where to start looking to find his father at STF. Last time he had just bumped into him by chance, but he really had no idea where exactly in STF did he work. So the only way he could think of to find his father was to ask someone else who knew Kendan very well. Rezo being the best choice. So Zelgadis went back to where he knew Rezo was, and that was working on trying to help cure Luna. When he reached the place he found Rezo pouring over a computer screen. 

"Um, Grandfather? Can I ask you a question?" 

Rezo broke off from his thoughts and looked over to Zelgadis. "Ah Zelgadis, how are you doing? I've heard that you've taken your next exams. Did they go well?" 

"Yeah they went fine. Um Grandfather, do know where I could find my father." 

"Hmm… now where would Kendan be on a day like this? Oh wait he was on one of the earlier shifts helping out here with Luna's condition and analyzing the Ozer DNA. He probably wont be back till way later. Sorry Zelgadis." 

Zelgadis' face fell but it wasn't as if he wasn't expecting this. Especially since all this business with Vernas, Ozer and Luna he figured that both his parents would be very busy with work related things. "No really it's okay you don't need to apologize. I just want to have lunch with him or something. I tried to see my mother too before and she wasn't in." 

"Yes your mother is quite a busy one. She's always working on something new. But since you are here maybe I can give you an update on what's been going on here." 

"You mean something new has come up?" Zelgadis did find this a bit surprising. From what he's heard there hadn't been much progress on anything with Luna's condition or the examination of the DNA samples. 

"Yes, Blitz delivered some news to me earlier that Lina had found out. It seems that Vernas was an orange agent many years back and was kicked out only to come back pretending to be someone else named Darrik Clay. When he was going around as Darrik Clay he was a yellow agent here. As I've managed to look some of the old files and find the notes to some of Vernas' earlier work." 

"And this helpful in someway?" 

"Yes I have a few of the notes to some of the earlier versions of the toxin that was used on Luna. I'm actually starting to see how Vernas made this toxin. This makes things a little more possible to find a way to cure Luna of her condition." 

"Well I'm sure everyone will be glad to hear that." 

"I'm not going to promise anything until I've got proof that that I can do something. But I can honestly say is that despite how much of a genius Vernas is, his a sick wacko with no care for other human lives." 

~*~

Vernas was sitting as his desk making some more calculations making sure that his little experiment would go off without a hitch. He really didn't care about human lives. The only thing he cared about was himself and that was part of the reason why he was doing all this in the first place. He wanted revenge on the world, but most importantly anyone whose ever criticized his work and forced him to stop. What Vernas wanted to do was to prove that he was the best scientist in the whole world and he was willing to go to great lengths to prove it. But what of Ozer? What did he get out of all this? What is that he wants? Not even Vernas was aware why. He wasn't sure why Ozer was wiling to go through with his experiment but not that he complained or anything. Vernas needed Ozer for this experiment. Without him it could not work. 

"I wonder what everyone at STF would do if they knew what our plans are." Ozer mused with a dark laugh. Whether or not Vernas knew, Ozer did have a reason for wanting the plan to go through, a very good reason. But for now that shall remain a mystery. 

~*~

Xellos walked back to the to where the other yellow agents were with obvious confusion shown on his face. 

"What's up with you? Did you go and see De Tanga?" Filia interrupted his thoughts. She was just going on a brake herself. She was sitting on a chair in the hallway right outside the research room where they were doing their work on Luna and examining the Ozer DNA samples. 

"Yeah I did." 

"And?" She prompted. 

"Well he's depressed I can tell that. But he wouldn't tell me why. He just avoided my question by asking me a question." Xellos sat down next to her. 

"Sounds like a typical De Tanga thing, avoid a question with a question. Nothing out of the ordinary there." 

"Yeah but he normally tells me what's wrong. This is different then all the other times." Xellos mused thinking back to the past. De Tanga and Xellos grew up to together and were best friends. They were together so often that most people thought that they were brothers or something. But one thing that Xellos always remembered about De Tanga was that he was never really that depressed out anything. Sure he would have his down moments but nothing to serious and he would also talk it out with Xellos. 

"Well things haven't been that normal around here the past few days now have they? Don't worry Xellos I'm pretty sure everything will turn out okay." Filia gave him a pat on the back as she got up. 

"Aww! Filia-dear you're concerned about me?" Xellos squealed out in delight doing a happy Amelia pose. 

"No it's not that! Why would I be concerned about an annoying piece of trash like you?!" Filia fumed at the said monster. 

"I don't know, maybe it's because you like me?" Xellos said with a grin and gave her a quick peck on the check before phasing out and teleporting elsewhere. 

"Why you little! AHHHH!" Filia screamed out in frustration because she couldn't take out her annoyance out on him. 

~*~

A darkly cloaked man with others dressed in a similar fashion sat in a dimly lighted room with tones of video screens. On each screen was another portion of the STF each one pointed on a different person. Neither one said anything to the others, they just sat and observed what they saw. They even had a few screens with pictures of Ozer and Vernas' current hideout. 

"Sir they are proceeding like we predicted." One of the people said to the person whom was obviously in charge. 

"Excellent. Keep me posted if anything we didn't expect to happen, happens." 

"Yes Sir." The subordinate said to the head while he walked off. One of the view screens clearly showed the experiment plans that Vernas was working on. 


	20. STF part 20

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty, No Comment

By Relm

~*~

Lina looked at her report schedule for the day. Ever since she had been starting this little case with Vernas she hadn't been given any new assignments so it really seemed pointless for her to even go to the report center. But her mother and father had been nagging at her to still go check anyway so she had been even though Leviathan wasn't going himself. So here she was looking at her report schedule and to her surprise she had a new assignment on her sheet. 

"What the hell is this?" She also had in hand Leviathan's report schedule whom also hand the same assignment that she had been assigned. Lina looked at the reception person who gave her sheet. All she did was shrug, which didn't help Lina that much. Lina also noticed that she needed to go see a green agent in about ten minutes about her new assignment. Which gave her just enough time to get over there in time. 

~*~

Lina walked into the room where she needed to meet this green agent who was going to inform her about this new assignment. When she did walk she didn't see anyone, but then a chair move to reveal to be a guy with green hair and red eyes. He also had this odd red jewel on his forehead. 

"So why the hell was I given this assignment?!" 

"Well good morning to you too Ms. Inverse." 

"Yeah, yeah whatever, get to it." 

"First of all I'm Carbunkle Garnet. (Relm: Well since he was the one who gave me the idea for this one I'd thought I'd put him in. And besides he did say that I could borrow any of his characters anytime I wished. ^^) Alright what your assignment is, is to deal with the increased criminal activity which we believe to be an organized crime ring-" 

"What?! What increased activity?! It's been deader then hell out there! When did this happen?" 

"Yesterday." 

(Lina facefaults) "So let me get this straight you want me and the other people on this list to deal with some increased criminal activity that you think to be an organized crime ring just because there was some actual crimes that happened yesterday?" (Ooh the bitter sarcastic overtones!) 

"Yes." 

"Why are you asking me to do this rather then someone else?" 

"Because if ends up being something serious then we'd rather have someone who can deal with it quickly and easily rather have someone else who would have trouble with it. And also we'd like to let the new 'special' red agents have some experience as red agents." 

"It's not like they haven't done any street work before, they are LPD officers." 

"You know what I mean. Please tell your brother and the others about the case please? You all need to report to briefing room 4a in about an hour from now." 

Lina just shock her head and left the green agent without saying anything else to him. She left to do some Leviathan hunting. 

~*~

Somewhere in the organized crime ring headquarters… 

A boss and three of his henchmen are in the boss's office. 

"Boss why exactly are we doing this crime thing now? There's been like nothing going on for like days now." One of the henchmen asked their boss. It had been weird these days, everyone had been preparing for the upcoming event that barely anyone bothered to commit any crimes. But then all of a sudden Deverold (the boss of this new crime ring) got his boys together and set this crime ring in motion. 

"Well it's quite simple we've been ordered to do it." The boss said with a crooked smile. 

"But boss I thought yous the boss. Why you'd be taking orders somebody?" 

"Ever a boss has to answer to someone else. You could say that we're pulling in a favor for someone. This crime ring has more of a purpose then just to get merchandise." 

"Duh? What other purpose would it have?" 

"I could tell you but you'd probably mess it up in someway." 

~*~

Now where is Leviathan? Well he was actually sitting in the indoor gardens laying on the grass taking a little siesta. However he was woken up when a piece of paper had landed on his face. 

"Huh? What's this? My schedule report for today? What?!" Leviathan got up and glanced over at Lina whom had dropped the paper on his head. 

"Yeah I was surprised too. I didn't think that they would give us an assignment either." 

"Oh Lina do we have to?" 

"Yup let's go get the others." 

~*~

A little under an hour later Zelgadis, Lina, Zangulus, Martina, Gourry and Leviathan were all sitting in briefing room 4a waiting for the person who was supposed to debrief them about the case only that green agent happened to be late. 

"Where the hell is he?!" 

"Lina are you sure that it was supposed to be an hour from when you talked to that other guy?" 

"Yes Leviathan I'm sure of it." 

Well speak of the devil and it shall come because that very same green agent that Lina had spoken too earlier just happened to come in at that time. 

"Hello everyone sorry I'm late." The green agent assorted his papers and sat down. "I'm sure that Lina has told you some things about this case. Even though this little crime spree only started yesterday we do have reason to believe that this a specially organized crime ring. We think that it might be spurred by what has happened here in STF headquarters recently." 

"What are you talking about?! They haven't let any information to the press of public at all. As far as the public is concerned nothing bad ever happened at the STF at all." 

"Well yes that's true but information may have leaked out. From what we have managed to gather the leader of this crime ring is Deverold Felmen," Carbunkle handed out Felmen's file for everyone to look at, "Basically he's not too unfamiliar around the STF criminal records bank. He has a lot of hired men and usually has lots of resources to his disposal. What we need you guys to do it is to find Felmen and terminate this crime ring. The way things currently stand with STF we can't afford right now to have multiple crime rings pop up which might be the case if other criminals follow suit like Felmen. We've actually been lucky over here with the decrease in crime. It gives us more opportunities to use our resources to deal with the maters at hand. But this case will give you all except Lina and Leviathan experience as red agents. And I know that Lina has pointed out that you've already done street work before but this is slightly different. So get going on the case and report back with any information." 

Lina rolled her eyes and got up with the rest of them to go outside. 

"I can't believe we're stuck doing some stupid crime ring and Felmen of all people is running it." Lina grumbled as they headed out the numerous security measures to get to the parking lot. 

"What's so bad about that Lina?" 

"Well the reason is Zel because I haven't worked on a Felmen crime ring case ever since I was a level two red agent. And every time they all ended the same way. We got everyone busted except Felmen who had magically disappeared." Lina pushed in her password with her key card and opened the next door and they walked down another large hallway. Some people in STF had even gone mad because of all the long hallways. There was just too many of them in the building, but then the building itself was too big. 

"Lina could he do magic?" Gourry of course asked that. General reaction: facefault and/or sweatdrop. 

"No Gourry she was merely using it as a figure of speech. Somehow he always managed to get away. He has to be one of the most criminally active people in crime history. He's technically guilty of many crimes. Only if we ever tried to get them stick on him he'd just get off free anyway." This time Leviathan took care of the next door. Only three more doors four hallways and two flights of stairs left. 

"If that's true then why would he get off free?" 

"Because besides being an overactive criminal he also happens to be a mastermind. He's done so many crimes but because he's so smart about them we don't have any evidence to make the charges stick. That could be one of the reasons why they sent us rather then other agents. They want to see if we can actually get charges that stick on him and get him arrested." 

"But Leviathan that still doesn't explain why they chose us instead of someone else. If that was the case then they could get some people who are even higher ranked then we are to do the job. There has to be a special reason why they want to us to do it." 

"Basically you're saying that they've got some special motive that they aren't telling us? Do you really think that STF higher officials would keep information from us?" Leviathan asked her sister all naive showing his obvious sarcasm. Which in turn caused a few chuckles. 

~*~

Carbunkle sat back in his office talking on his phone to one of his fellow superior green agents. 

"Well why did they even want them to take this assignment anyway? When and why couldn't you guys have told me? I had make up things from the top of my head that made sense. I sounded stupid." 

_"But how is that different then any other time?"_

"Why you! You are evil you know that?" 

_"So I've been told. But no Carbunkle there is a reason why they have been sent on this case. You see we've been given actual information that this is an organized crime ring. And well there was some mention about Lina and Leviathan."_

"What?" 

_"Well I don't know. They don't tell me everything you know. But oh well we'll just have to wait and see."_

~*~

Lina and the rest of them reached the parking lot and all of them got on their respective jet bikes. 

"Hey Lina do you know where to go?" Martina asked as she got her bike ready. 

"Yup. Just follow me." 

~*~

A few minutes later they ended up in one of the shadier parts of Vald. 

"Lina why are we here?" 

"To get some information." Lina said with a smile as she walked into what appeared to be just an ordinary general store. The store clerk looked at them with worried eyes. That's one thing about being an STF agent and wearing your uniform in public everyone thinks that you are going to bust them for something. Which is probably why the store clerk didn't say anything when Lina went in back and opened up the secret door in floor. The door had stairs that lead down. The lighting in the store itself wasn't so great but you could barely see anything down there. But that didn't stop Lina, down she went with everyone following. What they found down there was five guys at a table that had a small light overhead. Four of the five when they saw them freaked and ran out in other secret passages while the last one just gave Lina a cold stare. 

"Lina you know you are scaring away my business." The last man sat down at the table and motioned for the others to join him. 

"I need some information Rusty." Rusty which wasn't his real name by the way, was Lina's main source for street and crime information. He may be a criminal himself but with his connections he knows practically everything that's happening. 

"What else is new?" Rusty rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. 

"Why is Felmen starting up another crime ring?" 

"What's it too you? I don't have to tell you nothing." Of course Rusty knew that Lina would let off that easily. If you are a crook you don't keep information from an Inverse. Because if you did you'd most likely answer to Luna or Blitz. (Or if you were really unlucky Faithe.) 

"You're right but I don't have to keep my mouth shut about your whereabouts to STF headquarters. You still are wanted aren't you?" 

"Alright I'll tell you what I know. Geesh I was only kidding with you. Man always threatening people aren't you Lina? Alright sources say that Felmen isn't doing this as his own gig." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I hear that he's taking orders from somebody else." 

"Do you know who?" 

"Nope but someone real smart and powerful." 

"Do you know why this person wants Felmen to start up this ring?" 

"Same as before. I don't know much about the guy who Felmen is taking orders from. Don't have a name or a face to tell ya." 

"What about Felmen?" 

"Well that I can give you a little more information about." The man smiled as he pulled out some papers. It was the record of all of Felmen's purchases lately. Only it didn't have Felmen's name as the purchaser, it was five of Felmen's newest aliases. And they all could be trace back to one address. 

~*~

With the information Rusty gave them they were at Felmen's current address. They actually had gotten a permit to search the building due to all proof of the fake IDs. Of course even though they did have a permit they weren't exactly going to go in the front door. So they came around the back and broke in. What they didn't expect was that they were being expected. Once inside the building a gas filled the room from the vents. They tried to get back out but they couldn't the room had completely sealed itself off. It was hopeless. The gas took effect and they found themselves totally immobile. The bodies had stiffen and froze in place like they had turned to statues or something. 

"Well, well if it isn't my dear old friends Lina and Leviathan. Oh look and they brought others too." Deverold Felmen came in the room with his henchmen after the gas had cleared away. "I bet you are probably wondering why we knew that you were coming? Well you see the whole reason for this little crime ring wasn't to acquire items but in fact to lure you into a trap. My boss is quite content of having you all killed." Felmen laughed as he took an especially illegally enhanced bio gun and pointed it right at Lina. 


	21. STF part 21

STF, part 21 

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-one, In the Nick of Time

By Relm

***

All Lina could do was stare down the barrel of the bio gun. She couldn't move a single part of her body. All she could do was close her eyes and even that took quite a bit of effort. Felman had a twisted grin on his face he had wanted to have an opportunity like this for a long time. Lina and Leviathan had been two sharp thorns in his side for too long. So many of his plans had been ruined by the Inverse twins. So he did have some ratification about this, but at the same time he felt slightly robbed. 

"You know I've wanted to kill you both for a very long time. Only now that I have you two like this I don't feel as happy as I should. The problem is that this is too easy. Killing you now like the way that you are wouldn't be that gratifying. But I have to kill you two today or my boss wouldn't be very happy with me. So you can see my problem here." Felman lowered the gun and walked around pacing a bit. "I bet you are wondering why I would be taking orders from somebody hmmm? Or maybe you are wondering whom I'm taking orders from? Well which is it? Oh yes I forgot, you can't talk can you?" He laughed darkly and laughed even more when he looked at Lina. Though she couldn't move her face or body in the least bit, the anger, rage and helplessness that she was harboring was evidently expressed in her intense flaming red eyes. "Oh what do I do? I want to kill you yet I don't, but I have to kill you." He just kept thinking out loud in his mocking tone taunting them as much as he could. "Well I might as well kill somebody right now." He brought up his gun looking Lina straight in the eyes. His gun was aimed at her and just when Felmen was going to fire, he jerked his gun to aim on Martina and fired. The exploding sound of the gun going off was louder then a normal one but happened in the same amount of time. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The shot from the gun, the spray of blood and Martina's body being sent flying backwards hitting against the wall. Anger almost radiated off Lina, Gourry and Zelgadis. But Zangulus was the worst. You could just see the murderous bloodlust vengeance in his eyes. If he had been able to move, he would have lunged at Felmen, probably like everyone else would. But all were still frozen like statues. They tried to move but nothing move. Only the small tips of their fingers. They could wiggle them slightly because the gas was starting to ware off. 

Felmen looked over at the aqua haired girl's unmoving body and giggle in childish delight. "I bet she didn't see that coming. But with all the fun and games aside Lina, I think I'd better kill you now. I wouldn't want any problems now would I?" He aimed the gun back on Lina again, and Lina knew that this time he was going to fire on her. Lina shut her eyes as the gun cracked off it's next shot heading straight for her and she braced herself for the impact. Only she felt nothing. No siring pain, no jerking force and not even the heat of the shot. Lina opened her eyes in confusion to find that she was no longer in Felmen's hideout, but in fact in one of the medical labs in STF. And Lina wasn't the only one, Zangulus, Gourry, Zelgadis and even Martina were there. Filia and Xellos looked at Lina in the eyes. 

"I bet you are wondering why you are here Lina. Luckily De Tanga had been assigned to watch over you guys and teleported you guys out of there before you got shot." Filia said as she got bio scanner ready with a fluid vial attached to it. She took the scanner up to Lina's neck. "What I'm going to do is injected something in your body that will neutralize the effects of the paralysis gas. You will be able to speak and move after that." Filia did as she said she would and Lina did find herself able to move again, only to fall straight to the floor whamming her body hard on the ground. The fluid did loosen up her muscles but it did it too well. It was an immediate effect and the sudden change from being completely stiff to extremely flexible made Lina's body feel like it had the consistency of jelly. 

"Opps. Guess we should have expected that too happen. Are you alright Lina?" Xellos asked the fallen red agent with a large annoying smile. Lina only glared and pulled herself back up to a standing position. Meanwhile Xellos went off to go inject the others. 

"How's Martina?" Lina dared to look over at the shot girl. She had many yellow agents surrounding her with various medical instruments. 

"She was hurt pretty badly. But luckily Felmen isn't a very good shot. She's going to be in a bit of pain for a few days but she'll be fine." 

Lina sighed in relief but then her face turned to anger. "If De Tanga had been assigned to watch us why didn't he get there sooner?! Martina or someone else could have been killed!" Lina growled at her with misplaced anger. It's not like De Tanga was there for her to scream at. 

"He couldn't have even if he wanted too. He hadn't been properly informed this morning about your assignment until after you had left STF headquarters. You are lucky that De Tanga even managed to find you at all." 

"Well still what the hell are those STF head officials thinking?!" Lina grumbled really wanting to give them a piece of her mind. 

***

"Well Lina Inverse was almost killed today." Senator Gaav started the discussion around the table of senators and other important people at their conference room. 

"Yes indeed but De Tanga was able to get them out of there before there was any serious damage much like we expected." Senator Deep Sea spoke with very little emotion or concern. 

"But the point is that we confirmed our suspicions that Deverold Felmen was working under Ozer's orders. Though it does seem odd that Felmen would take orders from him. Felmen is notorious for hating any authority over him. What reason would he have to take orders from Ozer?" 

"Chances are Ozer is threatening him in someway. Meaning we might find Felmen's body pop up dead sometime soon." The room was silent for a moment. Yes having Felmen out of their way would probably be a good thing, but if Felmen was able to be killed then that shows how unsafe Ozer's enemies were. Felmen besides being known for his crime rings was very good at keeping himself protected from the law or anyone trying to harm him. 

"Maybe we haven't addressed the most important question of all." Senator Fibrizo waved his finger in the air. Everyone looked at him with curiosity. 

"And that would be what?" 

"Why would Ozer go such extreme lengths just to kill Lina and Leviathan Inverse? Yes we all know that he has a grudge against Blitz so maybe hurting Blitz's kids would give him satisfaction. But why go to such measures? He broke into STF's highest security just to infect Luna Inverse with that toxin with a high risk of getting caught. Why would he do it? He also managed to get one of the most notorious crime leaders to do his dirty work like a common henchmen. Do you see my point?" No one answered Fibrizo, because his point was a good one. 

"Well unless he feels especially threatened by Lina, Leviathan and Luna, then all of Blitz's family might very well be in danger." Senator Cassandra broke the silence. 

***

Lina walked around the STF halls aimlessly trying to get back proper feeling in her body, but it still did feel somewhat like jelly. Leviathan and Gourry had gone off to get something to eat and Zangulus had stayed behind at the medical labs to watch Martina, whom hadn't regained consciousness. Lina assumed that Zelgadis was doing the same thing as her but she didn't know exactly where he was. 

'Figures I get stuck with the most worst case.' Lina grumbled in her head. Because she was the first one to be inject with the muscle relaxant she got a slightly different dose then everyone else. Basically she was the guinea pig to figure out the right dosage they needed to give everyone. Lina had been given too much so while she suffered with her body being like jelly. If she hadn't had this problem then she would have gone with Gourry and Leviathan to go get something to eat. 

"Are you having problems too?" Lina looked up to Zelgadis who also was having troubles with his body movements. Only instead of being too loose his body seemed too stiff. 

"Yeah too much relaxant. You?" 

"Not enough." Zelgadis was the last person to have the fluid injected. By the time it got to him there wasn't enough left to do a proper job. But the gases effects would have worn off sooner before they could get anymore of the fluid. 

"Looks like we both got shafted. To be honest I am hungry and I want to eat but I can't move properly. Hell it's just hard enough to stand up. I feel like I am going to collapse to the floor like a puddle." 

"I feel like I'm going to fall backwards or forwards. My balance right now is so messed up." 

"Damn Zangulus, Gourry and Leviathan get all the breaks." Lina was a bit bitter but it really didn't matter to her that much. 

"Want to head over to the indoor gardens and sit a while?" 

"But that's so far away!" Lina complained. 

"Well we need the exercise anyway. So let's just go over there." 

Lina sighed in defeat. "Alright then Zel let's go but if I fall on my face it's going to be your fault." 

"I'll take the full blame if that does happen." 

***

Ozer sat in his chair with his communicator in hand which was on. The person Ozer was talking to? Deverold Felmen. 

"I heard that you failed to complete the task you were given." Ozer's voice was cold and emotionless. He wasn't really angry at all. In fact he had expected Felmen to fail anyway. But then why even set this all up? Because now Felmen would be paranoid that Ozer was going to come and punish him for not doing as he had asked. It took most of Ozer's restraint to keep from laughing. 

"Yes I know Ozer. I'm sorry, but I didn't know that they had some monster looking out for them. Please Ozer just give me another chance! I know that I can get them if I try something else." Deverold Felmen who was normally a cool character that seemed to fear nothing, was reduced to a freaked out blubbering mess. Oh how Ozer wanted to laugh, but he needed to keep in character himself. 

"No more chances. You failed me, you can't make it up to me." Ozer remained with his cold emotionless voice. 

"You-you aren't going to punish me are you?" Felmen's voiced squealed on the word punish. 

"Deverold Felmen if I were you I'd watch your back." Ozer didn't even give him a chance to say anything, he just cut the link. 

"You aren't really going to kill him are you Ozer?" Vernas looked to his 'partner in crime' with a questioning glance. Not that Vernas cared much if Ozer killed Felmen or not he was just curious. 

"Probably not. But he doesn't know that." 

"So basically you just turned the most levelheaded and rational thinking criminal mastermind into an overly paranoid mess?" 

"Pretty much." Ozer finally let out his laughter that he had been holding in. 

"You are very evil and twisted Ozer." Vernas just shook his head and went back to his work while Ozer only smiled in content. 

***

"So why do you think we were all sent on that crazy little assignment?" Lina asked Zelgadis as they laid down on the grass staring up into the fake protected blue sky. 

"I think that they knew it was a trap. I think they just wanted to find out who and why Felmen would take orders from." 

"But we didn't find out that piece of information." 

"That's true we have no proof, but who do you think it was?" 

"You mean who Felmen was taking orders from? My guess would have to be Ozer of Elbor Vernas. Or both even. Ozer has a grudge against my father and Vernas just plainly hates me." 

"Gee I wonder why?" Zelgadis chuckled slightly and looked over to Lina who was frowning. "Now why are you frowning for? What are you thinking about?" 

"I was just thinking about how messed up this whole situation is. I still don't even know why we have been assigned to this whole Vernas case or why even the STF higher officials are so dead set about getting you guys as red agents. It just doesn't make much sense." 

"Yeah I know what you mean, I ask myself that question all the time. You'd think that they would put green agents or more higher leveled red agents on this case. But then we aren't the only ones on this case. By the way how are the other guys doing anyway?" 

"The other guys are trying to locate where Vernas' hideout could possibly be. The only reason why me and Lev aren't doing that too is because of you guys." Lina sighed and stared at one of the fake projected clouds. It looked like a whale to her. 

"Have they had any luck so far?" 

"Nope not one bit. Every lead they've tried have been dead ends. I've uncovered more useful information staying here in STF headquarters then all of their work on the streets." Lina rolled her eyes and Zelgadis chuckled. 

"So I guess having us level two red agents aren't that bad." 

"Hey wait a minute we don't even really know if you guys are level two agents. We never went to go check your test results because of all that assignment stuff this morning." 

"Hey you're right! I wonder if I passed…" 

"Well then let's go find out!" Lina said triumphantly getting up too quickly for her still jelly like feeling body. The result, she fell forward and would have fallen flat on her face if Zelgadis hadn't had caught her. Zelgadis blushed a bit more so when Lina flashed him a very large smile. 

"Oh my hero!" She gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before springing out of his arms. Zelgadis whom was a bit dumbfounded at what had happened quickly got to his feet and followed Lina. 

***

Leviathan and Gourry were still eating in a nearby restaurant. Both of them were making pigs of themselves eating far more then anyone in the restaurant expected. Except the owner, he was well aware of Leviathan's appetite and welcomed Leviathan warmly anytime he came. Why? Because he, Lina and Gavin ate more food then anyone else so the owner got a lot of money. 

So the two were still in the middle of their feeding frenzy when Leviathan's communicator activated. 

"What do you want?! I'm eating!" Leviathan grumbled. If there wasn't one thing he hated more, then it was being interrupted right when he was in the middle of a meal. 

"Nice way to talk to your sister. Anyway since you are with Gourry I'd just thought that I'd let you know that me and Zelgadis are going to check out to see if Zel passed his level two exams. We'll go check if we can find out if Gourry and the others passed too. Bye!" 

"Hey Gourry are you curious on whether or not you passed?" 

"Nope." Gourry said while he attacked another chicken leg. 

"Oh really? How come?" 

"Because I checked this morning before you and Lina talked to me. I know that I passed already." 

"Everyone else forgot about it, how come you remembered?" Leviathan was almost scared. Was this really the same Gourry they all knew to love and hate, or was this some sort of impostor? 

Gourry shrugged and went back to his food. Rather then dwell on it, Leviathan also returned to his meal. 


	22. STF part 22

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-two, Lack of Sanity

By Relm

***

_The author looked at her laptop with annoyance. She was border-lining insanity due to this fic. What to write? What to write? It gnawed at her head. Pounding away like a full-blown headache. So she starts to type up nonsense hoping that it will help her think of something. Well does it help? Shut up._

***

Gourry was in the blissful land of sleep without a care in the world. Yes he did hear his alarm clock in his dream but oddly enough he choose to ignore it. It blared on for over half an hour and still Gourry didn't wake up. It was one of those alarm clocks that kept on ringing till someone turns it off. So then how does it only ring for a half an hour? Well just because Gourry isn't woken up by the alarm doesn't mean that everyone else in the household isn't. Jinny with bags under her eyes had stormed into Gourry's room and turned it off. 

"Damn you GOURRY! AHHHHHH!!!! Because of you I awake two hours before I need to!" Jinny screamed at her brother who like the alarm clock didn't hear. "HOW CAN YOU STILL BE SLEEPING!!!!!!! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!" Jinny did a battle cry and picked up Gourry's bed and turned it over with Gourry still on it. 

"Huh? What's going on?" Gourry got up from under the mess, dazed and confused. 

"What's going on?! What's going on?! YOU'RE AN IDOIT THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON!!" Jinny screamed at him as she picked him up and threw him over her shoulder out his door into the hallway and smashed into the wall. 

The crashing sound woke up Silas and he came out of his room in confusion. 

"What's going on here? That crashing noise woke me up." At this point Silas looks over to Jinny whom Silas could see wasn't in one of her better moods. His gut instincts told him to do one thing, run. 

***

A few minutes later Jinny had been stopped from chasing Silas around the house with piano. Silas, Gourry and Jinny sat at the table while their older brother Aaron made them some breakfast. 

"Really Jinny you should really learn to control that temper of yours." Aaron said with a smile to his little sister as he placed their breakfast on the table. Aaron whom worked as a doctor and a therapist lived with Jinny, Silas and Gourry. Their parents had long since retired from their jobs and were vacationing around the world while their children lived their lives. 

"Well I had a late night last night and I didn't need to be woken up by his alarm clock. Why the hell didn't you just turn the damn thing off?" Jinny glared at Gourry who was stuffing his face like he usually did once food was in front of him. 

"I didn't hear it." 

"What do you mean you didn't hear it?! That thing is so damned loud that it would wake anyone up!" Jinny waved her arms in the air. 

"I didn't hear it either Jinny." Silas solemnly spoke. 

"Neither did I." Aaron admitted. 

At this point Jinny couldn't think of much else to say so she just went on eating her breakfast occasionally mumbling about something. 

***

Silas watched Gourry get ready to head off to STF headquarters. "So what are you going to do today Gourry?" 

"I don't know each day is never the same as the day before." 

"But what did you do yesterday?" 

Gourry stood there for a moment deep in thought. 

Silas looked at his with a tired glance. "You forgot again didn't you?" 

Gourry nodded and Silas sprouted a sweatdrop. 

***

Sylphiel looked around the LPD office and sighed. Her job was just as busy as it normally was but she was bored. She missed having Gourry around. She never did get around to telling him that she liked him and now she barely ever saw anything of him anymore. 

"Hello Sylphiel." 

Sylphiel broke out from her trance and looked up to see Gourry the person whom she had just been thinking about standing right before her. 

"Gourry-dear, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at STF headquarters?" 

"Nah not for a little while. I got up early so I come visit you." Gourry flashed her a large grin and Sylphiel blushed and smiled at him shyly. 

"You came to visit me? Why?" 

"Well I haven't seen you in a while and I wanted to see how everything is at department. Are things okay around here?" Gourry took a look around. There wasn't that many officers there and most them looked pretty bored. 

"Things are a bit dead around here. But not like that affects my workload that much. It's still the same as it normally is. Are you planning on seeing Rotamis and Zolf as well?" 

"Yeah are they in?" 

"Yes they are do you want me to let them know that there is a STF agent here to see them?" 

"Would you? That would be great." 

"No problem." Sylphiel smiled and went off to Rotamis' office. Rotamis and Zolf were sitting talking about something when Sylphiel came in. 

"Oh hello Sylphiel, is there something wrong." 

"No you two got have a STF agent here to see you. Do you want me to send him in?" 

"In a moment Sylphiel." 

"Alright." Sylphiel walked off and Zolf turned to Rotamis with a large scowl. 

"What are more of those STF bums here to take away more of our prized officers. What did they even do with Zelgadis, Gourry, Zangulus and Martina anyway?" Zolf wanted to hit something and Rotamis wanted to laugh out loud. Rotamis purposely didn't tell Zolf exactly what the four were doing these days. 

"Hello." Gourry came in with a large smile. Zolf was going to great him once her heard Gourry's voice, but then he saw the uniform. 

"STF?! You became a STF AGENT?!" Zolf was close to hyperventilating. 

"Yeah of course didn't the Chief tell you?" Gourry looked at Zolf with confusion and Zolf's eyes turned straight to Rotamis. 

"Rotamis you knew about this?!" Oh the shock in Zolf's eyes was very apparent, he also had a look of betrayal. At this point Rotamis couldn't help it any longer and he started laughing out loud. 

"Why yes of course. Zelgadis, Martina and Zangulus too." Rotamis managed to get out after he controlled his laughing fit. Zolf on the other hand looked about ready to explode. 

***

Gourry wasn't the only person who had troubles waking up, Zangulus groaned at his alarm clock as it stole him from his sleep. He hadn't slept that last night and his was playing a price as a result of it. Though he wouldn't like to admit it he had been scared to death the day before. Being in such a helpless situation, unable to move and then having Felmen almost kill Martina. That was the worst part, watching what happened to Martina and being unable to do nothing about it. At that moment when Felmen had pulled the trigger Zangulus wanted to rip his heart out and beat his body to a bloody pulp. That was the initial anger. But the true anger was to towards himself for not being able to do anything about it. Of course the anger was merely a cover up for his fear. At that moment he didn't know whether or not Martina had been killed or if she was still alive. Luckily she hadn't been, but still if Felmen had just aimed a little differently then Martina could have been easily killed. 

"I guess Mrs. Inverse wasn't joking about how dangerous being a STF agent can be." Zangulus said bitterly to himself as he got ready to go. 

***

Lina and Leviathan were already at STF headquarters. Of course there was a reason why they were there so early. 

"What do you mean I can't make an appointment?!" Lina screamed at the receptionist. 

"I'm sorry given the current situation, none of them are available to make appointments. You are going to have to come back another day." 

Lina didn't say anything more and walked off grumbling to go see Leviathan. 

"So any luck Lina?" 

"Nope. They aren't seeing anyone. Chances are that is just a load of bull, they probably don't want to see of their agents." What Lina was referring to was the STF higher officials. Lina and Leviathan had gotten there early to see if they could book an appointment to speak with them. After yesterday's incident Lina really wanted to give them a piece of her mind. 

"Given your temper Lina I wouldn't be surprised that they wouldn't want to see you." Leviathan light heartedly chuckled giving Lina a pat on the back. She merely growled at him. 

"What's up with Lina?" Zelgadis inquired from afar. He had gotten there early to see if he could find a way to see his parents, but it turned out that both of them were too busy. 

"She's just a pissed because they aren't letting her see the STF higher officials." 

"So that she could scream at them?" Zelgadis raised an eyebrow with a small grin and Leviathan smiled as well. They both looked at Lina with their grinning faces while she just glared at them both. 

"I hate you both." 

"Oh really I thought you had a crush on Zelgadis, Lina." Leviathan gave her a coy evil smile while Zelgadis just blushed. Lina on the other hand smiled back at him. 

"You mean you aren't certain whether I do or not. My that's sad I would have thought you would have known me better then that Lev." Lina's grin enlarge and Zelgadis laughed. Leviathan sighed in defeat. 

"But what good would have it done you Lina if you had been able to make an appointment with the STF higher officials? Besides the fact that they could just as easily canceled your appointment if you had made one, but what would you have talked to them about if you could see them?" 

"I'd want to get some answers damnit! I don't like doing assignments were I have no clue whatsoever on how dangerous it's going to be. These aren't like our normal assignments and before they at least gave us a bit more information. They shouldn't leave their agents in the dark like this. And why are they hell bent on making you Zel and the others red agents?" 

"From you've told me Lina they don't tell their agents much anyway." 

"And?" 

"What makes you think that if you were able to talk to them directly that they would tell you anymore then they are telling you now?" Zelgadis pointed out with a cool logical manner. 

Lina mentally kicked herself. 'Damnit Zelgadis is right about that.' What did Lina do at this point? She growled again. And the two men laughed at her displeasure. 

***

Blitz sat at his desk holding in hand the latest report on Luna's condition. She was still in a coma but Rezo, Filia and Xellos had managed to make some progress in isolating the problem. Unless something bad were to happen and Luna's condition would worsen all of a sudden, then Rezo might be able to find a way to cure her. The question is does he have enough time. 

"This is crazy. What the hell are you up to Ozer? You can't get me so you go after my children?" Blitz said out loud. He wished he could just find the bastard and make him pay. But he had no clue where Ozer and Vernas was or what he would even do if he found them. All he knew was that he wanted to have Ozer either dead or stuck in jail with no chance of ever getting out. 

Blitz looked to other report he had. It was the latest report on the Ozer DNA samples that they were examining. The age didn't seem to make sense nor did the cell composition. What they examined didn't seem possible for even science to have created let alone nature. And what was even more disturbing was the fact that it matched up with DNA of an agent in STF but thy couldn't get a proper match. 

"Perhaps Ozer has a relative in STF that we don't know about. But then again who is Ozer anyway? Where did he come from? What did he really want? What is he up to? Too many questions. And whatever answers we seem to find just keep coming up with more questions." Blitz sighed. This whole situation was giving him a headache that not even medicine could get rid of. 

***

Ozer on the other hand was actually sleeping. He was dreaming of a world of darkness, devoid of life. Not a living thing just darkness and cold dark fire that consumes all. And in that cold fire Ozer stood tall looking on his world of destruction laughing like a madman. All that remained in this world of darkness was the ashes of a dead civilization. 

Ozer woke up with a smile. Yes his dream wasn't exactly logical but he did hope to achieve something close to that. 


	23. STF part 23

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-Three, A Hint of Things To Come 1

By Relm

***

_(Relm: A before warning, this part more or less focuses on one character. I'm only doing this for future plot developments)_

Gavin stretched as he got out his bed that morning. Mostly everyone had already left to go to STF headquarters. "What's everyone's obsession with getting to work so damned early?" Gavin grumbled as he went to his closet. He didn't care one way or another if everyone left without him, what he did mind was the entire racket they made when they were getting ready to leave. It was like as if they forget that he was still trying to sleep and they'd yell and make very loud noises. It always woke him up and then he'd have trouble trying to sleep after. And when he'd finally fall asleep again he'd have to get very soon after. It irritated him quite a bit. And this morning was no exception. 

***

Gavin got ready at a slow pace but wasn't running late at all. And like usual Gavin's grandmother had his breakfast all ready for him to eat. Gavin's grandmother Gertrude Smarthsan was once a STF agent, but had long since retired. 

"So Gavin what's on your agenda today?" Gertrude came in the room and gave her youngest grandchild a warm smile. 

"Well you know how STF is, you don't know what your days assignments are until you actually get there. But my guess is more of what I've been doing these past days." 

"Oh really? What have you been doing?" 

"Since there is that whole thing with the Vernas case there hasn't been that much criminal activity so Amelia and have-" 

"Amelia? As in Amelia Sailune the mayor's daughter?" 

"Um yes that Amelia." Gavin said with a sweatdrop. 

"Oh yes I do remember hearing something about her joining STF. Is she a level two red agent too?" 

"Um no she isn't she's-" 

"Well if she's not a level two then why is she assigned to work with you?" Gertrude looked at her grandson skeptically while Gavin blushed under her scrutinizing glare. 

"I can explain that. Um she's an orange agent and well was assigned to tag along with Lina on her duties just to learn from the experience-" 

"You mean Blitz actually allowed that?" The more Gertrude interrupted the more trouble Gavin had explaining things. 

"Um, Grandmother could you please let me finish before you ask anymore questions?" 

"Oh sure dear carry on." 

Gavin took a deep breath before he started up again. "Okay yes Dad allowed it because Amelia made some good points and because even if she was in danger Lina would make sure she would be alright. But since this whole Vernas case has started up and Lina and Leviathan are helping with the LPD officer's STF training, Dad figured that it would be better if Amelia would be temporarily assigned to work with someone in the red level two ranks-" 

"And your father picked you right?" 

"No and I thought I'd asked you to stop interrupting." 

"Sorry dear." 

"As I was saying no Dad didn't choose. She gave Amelia the choice of which red level two agent she wants to assigned to work with." With that done Gavin dived into his breakfast a little more. 

"And she chose to work with you?" Gertrude took a sip of her coffee. 

"Yes." Gavin said with his mouth full. Normally Gavin would talk with his mouth full. He was very neat about the way he ate and his table manners. Only when he was too tired and at home with only his grandmother there to see him he didn't care that much on table manners. He took a long sip of his orange juice. (Relm: Mmmmm… unsweetened 100% orange juice… (goes and grabs a glass) yummy….) 

"So you two like each other, huh?" Gertrude said with a sly smile. 

Gavin on the other hand choked on his juice. "WHAT?!" 

"Well she chooses you of all people to work with and you seem to be blushing every time you talk about her. Or do you like her and you don't know if she likes you back?" 

"…" 

"Well?" 

"No comment." 

***

After all that with his grandmother at breakfast, Gavin was on heading on his way over to his jet bike. "It's funny with all that commotion at breakfast I didn't even get a chance to tell Grandma what I'd probably be doing today." Gavin mused as he got on his jet bike and revved up the engine. Basically what Gavin had been doing was what a LPD officers would, we was patrolling the streets seeing if the STF were needed in anyway. But since this whole weird situation with Vernas there wasn't much to do. With exceptions of two days ago everything had been pretty quiet in Vald city. 

Gavin made it to STF headquarters within enough time he was early even. 

"Now I wonder what my sister is doing?" Gavin thought out loud as someone at that moment just crashed into him. 

"Ow! What the hell do you think- Oh Amelia it's you!" Gavin stuttered out as he saw that is was indeed Amelia whom had bumped into him. 

"I'm very sorry Gavin I wasn't looking on where I was going!" 

"Well no matter I was going to go look for you anyway. Hey Amelia have you seen Lina around?" Gavin gave the section of STF that he was in a quite look over but he didn't see his sister anywhere. Which wasn't surprising on how large STF headquarters really is. 

"I heard that she and Mister Leviathan were taking Mister Zelgadis, Miss Martina, Mister Zangulus and Mister Gourry on a training session." 

"Oh okay. Um Amelia can I ask you something?" 

"Yes Gavin?" 

"Why do you call people who are just two years older then you Mister and Miss?" 

"It would be rude otherwise if I didn't!" 

"…" 

"Well it would, now wouldn't it?" 

Gavin choose not to answer that one. He'd learned from past experiences that once Amelia had made up her mind about something it was hard to get her to change. You could though, but it would take a long time. It took him three weeks worth of convincing before she actually stopped calling him Mister Gavin and started calling him Gavin instead. "So Amelia do you know what's on the itinerary today?" 

"Just the same as we did yesterday. Patrolling around the city. Only this time we are in the eastern district." Amelia said with false awe. 

"Ooooh! How exciting!" Gavin of course was just as impressed as Amelia was so he spoke in mock excitement. "Oh I can't believe we are heading over to the _eastern_ district of all places. I can't hardly wait." 

Gavin did this in such false over exaggerated enthusiasm that it caused Amelia to laugh. 

"So shall we head off?" 

"Oh can we leave now?! I'm so excited." 

"Gavin you can knock it off now." Amelia said in a fit of giggles. 

"Knock what off?" Amelia just laughed some more. 

***

Lina and Leviathan oversaw Zelgadis, Zangulus, Gourry and Martina's training. They were doing pretty well. Lina and Lev had them set on a certain training schedule so that they could get specific things worked on. At this point Martina was working on her bio gun aim, Zangulus and Gourry were sparing and Zelgadis was lifting weights. 

"I wonder if you and Zel got into a match who would win. Zelgadis probably." Leviathan said to his twin sister who looked at his with a glare of both annoyance and a challenging spirit. 

"And just why would you think that Zelgadis would win instead of me?!" 

"Oh because he's doing all this training lately that you haven't been doing." 

"I'll have you know that I've been helping Zelgadis train by sparing with him. So I could very well win." 

Leviathan looked at her with a sly smile. "Well then how about we find out?" 

"I don't know if Zelgadis would be up to it." 

"Wont know until we try right? Hey Zelgadis get over here!" 

"Yeah what is it Leviathan?" 

"My sister and I were just talking about something. Basically I was wondering who would win in a match between you and my sister. Want to try it out and see who will win?" 

"You mean me… having a match with Lina?" Zelgadis looked over to Lina with a confused look. 

"I don't mind giving it a try and besides it might be good training for you. So what do you say?" She gave him a challenging grin. 

"Alright if it's okay with you." 

"Great let the match begin!" 

***

Amelia and Gavin parked their jet bikes to walk along the streets. The reason they decided to stop at this part of the eastern district of Vald was that there was definitely something unusual about it. Most of the time during the day there was at least two of three people walking around on any section of Vald's streets. Only these blocks were deserted. There wasn't a single a person in sight. 

"Hey Amelia what do you think about this? I've never seen a Vald street so empty before. There's not even a stray cat around anywhere. Why would these blocks be so deserted?" Gavin said as they walked along one of the deserted blocks 

"I have no idea Gavin. But I can definitely tell you something, something is afoot over here, and it's probably not anything good. Perhaps maybe we should report back to STF headquarters about this." Amelia was just about to turn back and head over to her jet bike when Gavin grabbed her arm and stopped her. 

"If we go back what would be have to report? There's nothing wrong here, there just isn't anyone around. Unless we can find something else to report we don't really have a good reason to go back. So how about we stay and try to see if we can find something that would be worth reporting?" 

"I guess you are right. I think I need to think things more carefully if I'm ever going to get anywhere as a red agent." 

"Well you aren't too bad about that, but you do really need to think over your actions carefully, because sometimes it can be a matter of life and death." Gavin and Amelia took another corner and still they found nothing. 

"Hey Gavin why haven't you gone to take your level three red agent examinations yet?" 

"Um well I don't think that I would be able to pass them… I'm not exactly that strong…" Gavin said with a bit of embarrassment. 

"Oh you are being far too modest Gavin! I know that you could easily pass it. Maybe you don't have as much strength as some other agents do, but what you lack in strength you make up for speed." 

"You really think so?" Gavin looked at her in disbelief. 

"I know so." 

Gavin would have said something more only he heard a noise. Amelia heard it too and the both of them proceeded with caution with their guns on handy. The noise came from an alley and they walked in the alley with caution. When they got to the end they were surprised to see not only that it was a dead end, but no one was there either. 

"Huh? Now what is up with this?" Gavin said in confusion. They were just about to head back when some people in dark suits jumped behind them from above. Before Gavin or Amelia had time to react the people in the dark suits knocked Gavin out unconscious and grabbed Amelia. 

"Gavin! You scoundrels what have you done to him?!" 

"Nothing yet but we will soon." One of the black suited men said with an evil smile as some of the other men dragged Gavin off to some a nearby car that had just pulled up. The put the unconscious Gavin into the car and car drove off. 

"What are you doing?! Where are you taking him?!" Amelia screamed at the man who answered her question before as she tried to break free from the three men who were holding her. 

"A place were you wont be going." He gave her that evil smile. 

Amelia was going to say something more only everything suddenly went black. 

***

After two different matches Lina and Zelgadis decided to call it a draw. Basically the only reason is because Zelgadis won one match, Lina won the other and neither of them had enough energy left to have another match. 

"I guess you could just say that we're evenly matched huh?" Lina said as she collapse on the floor. 

"You could say that." Zelgadis also collapsed on he floor next to Lina. Neither one got up. 

"Aren't you two going to get up?" Leviathan asked the pair sprawled out on the floor. 

"Nope." They both said in unison. 

***

When Amelia came to her head was aching. She was a bit disoriented until she remembered where she was. 'I'm in the eastern district, but where's Gavin…? Oh that's right! Those weird guys kidnapped him!' Amelia was worried and angry all at the same time. She rushed over to her jet bike at full speed. 

***

At some unknown place the people in the black suits surrounded Gavin who was laying on an operation table. 

"Well it looks like everything went well. Is he ready for our plan?" The head black suited man asked. 

"Almost we're about ready to start the experiment in a moment." 

"Excellent." 


	24. STF part 24

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-four, A Hint of Things To Come 2

By Relm

***

Gavin came too all groggy and unable to move. His head was muddled and he could barely think straight. 'Where am I?' Gavin tried to open his eyes but even that took a lot of effort. It was like as if all his strength had been sapped out of him. He also could barely feel his body. 'I could be strapped to something and I wouldn't know.' He grimly thought as he tried to move his hand but only succeeded in wiggling the tips of his fingers. And what was worse his eyes were messed up too. There was a bright light above him so anything around him appeared to be darkness. But that wouldn't have mattered anyway because his vision was both fuzzy and blurry. It was like as if he was a person who needed glasses but didn't have any on and he was looking through water. 'How did I get here? And where is here?' He knew that he should know how he ended up in this position but he was having too much trouble trying to remember. Thinking was just too much work for his mind right now. Gavin would have called out asking if there was anyone there but he didn't have the strength to even whisper. Then his eyelids, which had taken so much of his energy to open, closed as sleep over took him. 

***

While Gavin lay captive in an unknown place Lina, Leviathan and everyone else were still training without knowledge that anything was wrong. 

"Come on you two get up." Leviathan impatiently pleaded to Lina and Zelgadis whom were both sprawled out on the floor too tired to want to get up. 

"Why?" Lina mock-whined with a laugh. "It's so much nicer here on the cold hard floor." 

Leviathan just rolled his eyes at his sister. He looked over to Zelgadis hoping would be more reasonable only he was smiling on the verge of giggling. 

"That's it I give up." Leviathan waved his hands up in the air. 

***

Amelia rushed as fast as she could go on her jet bike to get back to STF headquarters. This was one of the times that she wished STF wasn't so strict about their communication regulations. She was so worried and trying so hard to get back to headquarters that she was being a very dangerous person to be near on the road. The problem with Amelia is that she still had quite a few things that she needed to learn quite a few things. One of them being how to drive better at high speeds. She was very close to causing quite a few accidents. 

"Ahhh!" Amelia screeched as she almost got hit by another car. "Maybe I'd better slow down… no I can't! I have to get back to STF headquarters as soon as possible!" Amelia said to herself with determination just as she lost control of her bike and swerved and she couldn't control her bike and it crashed into a car. 

***

After much complaining and nagging from Leviathan, Lina and Zelgadis finally got up. They figured that they had done enough training for now and they were going to take a break before they headed over to a restaurant for lunch. 

"So what are we going to eat today? Because after those two matches I'm really hungry!" 

"Lina when are ever not hungry? But I don't care either way. I just want some food." Leviathan said with a stretch. "How about we head out now and decide where to go once we are outside?" 

They were going to say something in agreement only one of the orange STF agents came running in. 

"Miss Lina! Miss Lina! You must come it's horrible!" The orange agent said in a short breath gasping for air. You could tell that he had been running over to the room. 

"What, what's wrong?" 

"It's Amelia! Please you've gotta go over to the emergency medical room!" 

Lina exchanged worried looks with Leviathan. It was obvious that lunch was going to be put on hold for a little while. 

"Come on let's go see what's wrong." 

***

Lina and company rushed over to the room to find Filia, Rezo and Xellos tending over a battered up body which much to their horror was Amelia! 

"What the hell happened?! Is Amelia going to be okay?!" Lina yelled once she noticed Amelia. 

"Oh Lina you're here finally. We're not sure. To what we've been told was that Amelia was driving at an extremely fast and dangerous speed and she lost control of her jet bike. She ended up hitting a car. Luckily for her the car was heading in the same direction as her and she hit it on it's side. Amelia was thrown of her bike quite some distance and she landed in bush. She hit her head pretty badly and broke a few bones too but I think she'll be alright." Rezo said looking over Amelia's health charts. 

"You think?!" 

"Well like I said she hit her head pretty hard. She might be fine or out for quite some time, but I'm just curious on why she was driving so fast in the first place. But wasn't Amelia assigned to work with you Lina?" 

"She was until the whole Vernas case." 

"Was she was assigned to work with someone else?" 

"Yeah she was assigned to work with my little brother Gavin… where the hell is Gavin?!" Suddenly Lina wasn't sure if she should be angry or worried. 

"I haven't seen him around. And he apparently wasn't with Amelia when she had her accident…" 

"Okay well thank you Rezo. Can you please message me when Amelia is awake and able to see visitors?" 

"Yes sure Lina." 

***

Lina and company left the room and went off to a place where they could talk. 

"Lina you don't that Gavin would just leave her do you?" Leviathan asked. 

"Come on Lev this is Gavin we're talking about here. He'd never leave her unless he had a good reason. And why was Amelia in such a hurry to get back here? She hates driving as fast as I do normally so why the hell would she drive fast enough to get her in an accident? No there's something wrong here. I'm going to try to call Gavin on my communicator." Lina said while activating it and tried to contact Gavin. Only for some weird reason the connection wasn't working. "What they hell is going on here?!" 

"Lina I think you are right, there must be something wrong, and it doesn't look like we are going to find out anything until Amelia wakes up. But I don't think we should go outside of STF for lunch." 

"Yeah good point Zel, Amelia could wake up at any moment. Let's just head over to the cafeteria and eat until we hear something. The people at the cafeteria aren't going to like it but I don't really care." Everyone nodded in agreement and they headed over to the cafeteria. 

***

The black suited people stood over Gavin once again. They had been monitoring him since they finished their 'experiment' on him. The only reason they went back in the room was because Gavin had managed to come too. 

"So how is it that he managed to wake up? You said that would be impossible." The leader said to the head scientist. 

"It should have been. But somehow due to some factors that we didn't expect he managed to wake up. Though it's nothing to worry about. He wasn't able to move so he didn't see much." The scientist stated fiddling with his glasses. 

"Oh yes it does matter. We didn't want him to remember anything of being here and now he'll have some memories of being here. Maybe they wont be clear memories but he'll still have them. So now we're going to have to waste more time to correct this problem. See to having his memory fixed." 

"But sir I don't think it's necessary to-" The scientist started to saying in a small voice. 

"Are you questioning my orders?!" 

"No sir!" He stammered out. 

"Good. I will not have any problems." The leader said with a malevolence grin as he left the scientist to their work. 

"Sir what about the girl? Should we send someone to deal with her?" One of the leaders subordinates asked once they were in the hall. 

"No we won't need to bother with that. Since Ozer's daring yet stupid venture into STF headquarters their security has been upped a bit. We wouldn't want to risk getting caught now would we? Even if the girl wakes up and tells them she won't have much more to say then some guys dressed in black suits kidnapped him. That could be anybody." 

***

If Phil had been reachable he would have been told about his daughter's accident, but since he wasn't available Amelia was worked on Rezo, Filia and Xellos without him knowing. 

Something was bothering Rezo about Amelia's condition. There wasn't something right and he couldn't tell what it was. 

"Mister Rezo is there something wrong?" Filia looked over at the head yellow agent. 

"I'm not sure…" 

"Could this be the reason?" Xellos asked pointing out to a readout on Amelia's blood. According to the readout there was a foreign chemical in her blood. 

"According to this Amelia's been injected with a chemical that knocks a person unconscious if I'm not mistaken. This explains why there's something wrong with her eyes. But why in the devil would she have had that injected into her? And why would someone have done it?" 

Neither Filia nor Xellos could answer that question. 

"Still as confusing as this is the most demanding stuff as been dealt with. So I think it's time that I went back to see about Luna and the DNA analyzing. Would the two of you mind staying here and waiting till Amelia wakes up?" Rezo asked the monster and the golden dragon. 

"No I don't mind staying at all Mister Rezo. But could you please take Xellos with you? I don't need him here just to watch over Amelia and plus he's so damned annoying!" Filia said. 

"Aw you mean to say Filia-dear that you don't enjoy my company? But I enjoy yours…" Xellos gushed out batting adoring eyes. Filia just whapped him in the face. 

Rezo on the other hand just sweatdropped. "Um no Filia I think Xellos needs to stay. We don't know if that chemical could have side effects." 

Filia dropped her head in disappointment. While Xellos just went and gave her a big hug and well she screamed. But that didn't wake Amelia up though. 

***

At the cafeteria Lina, Zelgadis, Zangulus, Martina, Leviathan and Gourry had just finished their lunch (with the cafeteria people glaring daggers at them) and still they heard no word from Rezo or anyone about Amelia. 

"I'm surprised that we haven't heard anything yet. So what are we going to do now? We don't have anything lined up today and we can't leave till we hear something about Amelia." Zangulus asked while they walked out of the cafeteria. 

"Hey Lev do you know where Dad is? Maybe we should let him know what's going on." 

"Might not be a bad idea Lina. To what he told me was that he'd be in his office all day doing work. So how about we head over to his office?" 

They nodded in agreement. 

***

Blitz indeed was doing paperwork when Lina, Lev, Zel, Gourry, Martina and Zangulus came in. 

"Oh hello everyone. Is there something wrong?" 

"Hey Dad did you know that Amelia got into a car crash and we have no idea where Gavin is?" 

"What? An accident? And Gavin's missing? And how did all this happen?" 

"Well apparently Amelia was driving at a dangerous speed probably trying to get back here only she lost control of her jet bike and crashed. Rezo thinks that she's going to be alright." 

"But what about Gavin?" 

Leviathan rather then Lina answered this one. "We don't have a clue about that. Gavin wasn't there at the accident nor has anyone seen him. I don't think that Gavin would just leave Amelia to fend for herself like that. So something must be up." 

"Have any of you tried to contact Gavin?" 

"I did only I couldn't get through. There was something blocking the connection. I don't have a clue what it could have been. Dad you don't think that something might have happened to Gavin do you?" Lina looked to her father conveying her worry. That was the thing about Gavin, since he was the baby of the family everyone always worries about him the most. 

"Something might have. But the only one who might even have a clue is Amelia. Have they contacted you back yet?" 

"Nope. We're still waiting. But have you heard anything new on the Vernas case?" 

"Just that the other red agents haven't had any luck. I begging to wonder if we'll ever get anywhere with this case." 

"Oh well Dad I guess we'll see you around." 

"Okay but tell me when you hear from Amelia alright?" 

"Alright, bye." 

"Bye." 

They walked out of Blitz's office and they were just about to decided on what to do next except they were being paged to come to the emergency medical room right away. 

***

Inside the room they found a frantic Amelia. 

"Oh Miss Lina, Miss Lina it's just terrible!" Amelia sobbed grabbing onto Lina once she had come into the room. 

"Hey Amelia calm down you're still injured. Now tell me what's wrong?" 

"Gavin! He's been kidnapped!" 


	25. STF part 25

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-five, A Hint of Things To Come 3

By Relm

***

"WHAT?!" Lina yelled in shock. "Gavin has been kidnapped?! How did it happen?! Where did it happen?! Who did it?! What do they want?! Where has he been taken too?!" 

Everyone all looked over to Amelia with questioning looks. 

"It happened over in eastern district. Me and Gavin were patrolling like we have been doing for the past few days. We stopped at this section because it was very vacant for some odd reason. So we went to check it out. We heard this noise in an alleyway but when we went to investigate we didn't find anything. Just as we turned around to leave these men in black suits jumped us. The knocked Gavin unconscious and took him away in a car. I demanded to know where they were taking him and one of the men said that they said that they were taking him to a place that I wouldn't be going. They also said that they were going to do something to him! Miss Lina what are we going to do?!" Amelia cried out. 

"I don't know… What the hell do they want with Gavin?! And who the hell are they?!" 

***

"So is he ready?" The head black suited man asked his cohorts. 

"Almost Sir." 

"Excellent. Once he's ready it's time to release him." The man said with an evil smile. 

***

An hour later Lina and company were back in Blitz's office trying to figure out what to do. 

"You mean Gavin has been kidnapped by people dressed in black suits? Who are they?" Blitz asked in a rather hotly tone. 

"I wish I knew. I've never heard about a criminal organization that goes around dressed in black suits. Have you?" Lina asked. 

"No, do you think that Ozer or Vernas could have a hand in this?" Leviathan looked to his twin with an exasperated expression. 

"But what reason would they have to kidnap Gavin?" 

And again they were back to square one. 

"I think the more important question is not who kidnapped Gavin, but more of how to get him back. Since we haven't received a ransom note then there must be another reason on why they want him." 

"That still doesn't help us with trying to figure out how to get him back." 

"Well what about Xellos or De Tanga? Their monsters right? Maybe they could find them." 

"That's worth a shot." Blitz typed in a few things into his communicator and the projection screen. "Heidi can you get Xellos and De Tanga into my office ASAP?" 

"Sure Boss." 

***

Meanwhile everyone's favorite villains, Ozer and Vernas sat in their little hideout wondering what was going on themselves. 

"Hey Ozer do you know who these black suited guys are?" 

"No and I'm a bit surprised at that. Now what could they possibly want with the youngest Inverse child?" Ozer mused in thought. He found it rather intriguing that these people in black suits had managed to pull a stunt as they had. The reason that they had found out about the kidnapping incident was because one of Ozer's spies told him about a mind control device that the men in black suits had used to get everyone in certain areas of eastern district to leave their homes. 

"Annoyed that you didn't think of it first Ozer?" Vernas said with a laugh. Ozer on the other hand didn't find that very amusing and was glaring at him with the evilest of looks. And if there was one thing you didn't do then it would be getting Ozer angry at you. "Um joke, Ozer. It was a joke." Vernas said with a nervous laugh. Ozer mentally smiled at the fact that he could cause fear in someone with just a look. 

***

De Tanga teleported into the medical labs right behind Xellos. 

"Hello Xellos." De Tanga said with a smile. Xellos on the other hand jumped. Even though Xellos was a monster De Tanga somehow always was able to sneak up on him. 

"AHHH!!! And what do you want?!" 

"My, temper, temper. Xellos you and I have to go to Blitz's office. Right now." De Tanga's tone was rather serious for his normal way of talking. 

"Oh and what is the matter? Something to do with happened today?" 

"I really don't know, I wasn't given any details. We'd best go there and find out." 

Because they are monsters and not humans they teleported to Blitz's office rather then walked. 

"Hello there Mister Inverse. What have you called us for?" Xellos said in his regular playful tone. 

"Xellos, De Tanga I'm going to make this sort. Gavin has been kidnapped. We don't know where he is, why he was taken or who took him. All we know is that the people who did it were men in black suits. We need your help to find him." 

Xellos looked over to De Tanga. "Should I try first?" 

"Go right ahead." 

Xellos concentrated very hard on trying to locate where exactly Gavin was using his monster abilities. Only for some weird reason his powers were being blocked by some unknown force. "As odd as it might seem I can't find him." 

Everyone looked at him with shock. 

"What do you mean you can't find him? You're a monster, shouldn't you be able to find him?" 

"Not all monsters have good abilities to find people, especially for finding people far away. Like De Tanga, due to his varied non-monster type abilities some of his monster abilities are limited. My monster abilities are very good." 

"Then why can't you find him?" 

"Because for some weird reason I'm being blocked. Must be some weird protection field. But De Tanga you might have a better chance." 

De Tanga was quiet for a few moments and looked up to see everyone looking at him. "Well first I need an item of Gavin's. Does any of you have something I could use?" 

Lina, Leviathan and Blitz thought for a moment. And then Blitz went fishing around his office and handed De Tanga a glove that Gavin had left in Blitz's office last winter. 

"Okay now let me see…" De Tanga closed his eyes and concentrated very carefully. He was starting to get an image until he felt this sharp searing pain that caused him to stop his search. He nearly collapsed on the floor from the pain. 

"De Tanga are you alright?" 

Everyone rushed around the monster and De Tanga just waved his hand. "No, no I'm fine. Just a block that was a bit painful. Whoever this is that took Gavin is very good and very cautious." 

And back to square one they went. 

***

"So Sir what are we planning to do with the boy once we are done with him?" One of the cohorts asked the black suited man in charge. 

"Well we are going to give him back of course. He wouldn't be of any use to us if we kept him here." The leader of course spoke with an evil smile. 

"But what would he be able to do for us if we let him go?" The cohort was confused. But then that wasn't abnormal. Most of the leaders' men were a bit in the dark about what his plans were. The only ones who had any bit of an idea of what the leader was planning where the scientists who did the experiments the leader asked them to do. 

"Oh so you mean you aren't sure why we are doing this?" 

"No Sir." 

"Good. Just follow my orders and everything will out, hopefully in our favor." The leader just patted his cohort on the back and went walking down the halls. He was making his rounds seeing how everything was doing. He stopped at a door and went in. He was in the observation room. And what was being observed? Gavin Inverse laying on a table in a comatose-like state. 

"Well once you are ready you will serve our purpose nicely…" 

Another one of the leaders cohorts came into the room. "Sir he's ready to go." 

"Excellent. Let's get the preparations started." 

***

Lina, Blitz, Zelgadis, Leviathan, Martina, Gourry, Zangulus, Xellos and De Tanga were still trying to figure out a way to get Gavin back when someone alerted them of something happening outside. When they got there what they found was an unconscious Gavin laying on the pavement. 

"Hurry we have to get him to the medical labs!" 

***

Minutes later Gavin was being seen over by Rezo, Filia, Xellos and some of the other various yellow agents. 

"Is Gavin alright?" 

"From what I can tell he's perfectly healthy only I have no clue on why he's in a coma-like state. And what purpose did those people kidnap him for just to give him back on the same day?" Rezo mused while looking over Gavin. I was strange they didn't find any weird chemicals in his body, or at least ones that would shed light on his condition and what had been done to him. "I can't say for sure when he'll come to, or even if he will come to at all. I'm really in the dark here. I swear with all the trouble we've been having with Vernas we sure don't need something else to have to deal with." 

They all could agree with him. They didn't know anything about these people in the black suits and as they sure weren't helping matters. 

"So I guess the only thing we can do for now is sit and wait to see if he'll wake up. Geeze first Luna now this…" Lina grumbled. 

***

The high STF officials again met at their conference room. Only this time, they weren't meeting to discuss Ozer and Vernas. 

"I heard that the youngest Inverse kid was kidnapped earlier today." Senator Dynast started off the meeting. 

"Yes it was in the eastern district of Vald city. It's pretty odd too, they kidnapped Gavin Inverse but didn't bother to kidnap Amelia Sailune, the mayor's daughter." 

"Meaning what they were after wasn't money." 

"What were they after? I heard that the boy was return in an unconscious state." 

"Yes he was. It's very interesting, so many little mysteries few so little answers." Senator Deep Sea said with a content smile. Everyone just gave her a funny look. 

"Ahem. And one mystery would be how they managed to get all those people out of their homes." 

"Well that isn't so much a mystery. I have the answer to that one." Everyone turned their attention to Lillian Greywers whom was also sitting on the meeting. "It's quite simple actually. They used mind control." 

"You mean they have special powers to get people to do their will?" Senator Gaav said with evident sarcasms. 

"No I was talking about a machine. Of course no one on record has ever been able to accomplish such a goal as to make a machine like that work. But just because we don't know about it doesn't mean that someone has succeeded. What I'm more concerned about is how these mystery people were able to know where Amelia Sailune and Gavin Inverse were going to be patrolling." Lillian said with a frown. 'If my line of thinking is correct then that's a scary thought…' 

"What are you implying that wasn't a coincidence that Gavin was kidnapped?" Senator Fibrizo asked with a disbelieving expression. 

Everyone looked over to Lillian with similar disbelief displayed on their faces. 

"If so then why didn't they take Miss Sailune as well? And why not another area of Vald? Why that specific section of eastern district? No they wanted Gavin and Gavin alone." 

"But then what you are saying is that these people knew Gavin's work schedule? The only way they could do that is if…" Senator Celesta's voice trailed off. She couldn't say even think to say the rest. 

"If they had some way to breech STF security and gain access to some of the files." 

"No that couldn't be possible!" 

"You mean someone getting past STF security?" Lillian knew that even though STF had been breeched before they still thought of the structure as being impenetrable. Lillian herself couldn't really figure out how Ozer managed to do it or how the people the black suits managed to do break in. But then at the same time she could be ignorant and believe that STF headquarters was impenetrable. 

"We would have known of it if someone had!" 

"Yes but Ozer managed to get past STF security so why can't someone else?" 

"But even though Ozer got past our security he still ended up being detected." 

"So whose to say that someone couldn't get in without being detected?" 

"But that would mean that these people would be smarter then Ozer…" What a horrifying thought, a organized group of criminals smarter then Ozer the acclaimed notorious and most ingenious criminal in STF history. 

"That's right." Lillian Greywers said with an emotionless face. Everyone else's expressions in the room darken. Well except for Deep Sea was still smiling contently. 


	26. STF part 26

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-six, (…) 

By Relm

***

Hours passed by and there was no change in Gavin's condition. Due to lack of yellow agents on staff Gavin had been moved into the room next to where Luna was being seen over. Luna herself hadn't had a change in her condition either. It was a bit unnerving, first the eldest Inverse child and then the youngest. 

The room was filled with many weary faced yellow agents. Many of then were tired and had been worked to the bone that it almost didn't seem likely that they would even come to work. And many of then even had their doubts, but still they all came. Each one despite what they thought was dedicated to their jobs. But even with all this dedication they weren't getting anywhere. Gavin still wouldn't wake up, they still couldn't think of a way to help Luna and they still couldn't make much sense of Ozer's DNA. But Gavin was perhaps the biggest mystery. From what they could tell he was completely and utterly healthy with no reason to be unconscious like he was. He had most the agents baffled. But what was going on in Gavin's head? He just lay there still and unmoving. Only an occasional slight movement on his face that only lasted a second a time was the only indication that there was some thought or some life in there. Otherwise his face was blank and emotionless. 

***

On a monitor among many other monitors in a large computer room Gavin's unconscious body was displayed. Inside the people dressed in the black suits' dwelling the leader of this nameless group and a few of his cohorts watched the young Inverse. Like they had spied many others a small camera videotaped the STF medical interior. Ever since they had released their little captive they had been keeping a very close eye on him and they intended to keep on doing so until their plans went through. 

The leader cackled at the yellow agent's confusion and ignorance. The mere fact that the yellow agent's were being spied on by them without their knowledge was hilarious to him. 

"Aren't they stupid? They don't even know what is going to hit them." The leader laughed again. Their little organization had been spying all throughout STF headquarters for many years without anyone at STF even having the slightest bit clue that the black suited men were doing it. But that was do to the STF's once thought invincibility. No one at STF worried about intruders of spies because the security and structure was so safe. Of course it would probably be a matter of time before the black suited men are discovered, but for now they had their bugs all through STF headquarters. 

"That is true Sir. But the fact remains that it will be a little while before we are going to see any results." The head scientist told the leader. 

"True. But when will our little experiment wake up?" 

"I'm not sure. But I'd wager that it will be pretty soon." 

The leader smiled evilly. "Excellent." 

***

The head scientist had been correct it was soon. In fact just as Rezo was about to do a new scan on Gavin he started to stir. 

"I don't believe it! He's waking up!" Rezo said in astonishment. Everyone gathered around Gavin and he squinted as he opened his eyes. 

"Wh-where am I?" Gavin's eyes were still out of focus and he was having trouble seeing clearly. Everything was blurred and fuzzy but quickly the effects started to fade and he was able to make out the forms of Lina, Leviathan, Blitz, Amelia, Xellos, Filia and Rezo looming over him. 

"Gavin you're in the room next to Luna's in STF headquarters." Rezo said helping Gavin sit up. Even though Gavin's sight had returned his body didn't seem to be in top order. He felt disoriented, dizzy and his muscles felt a little like jelly. 

"STF? How did I get here…? Wasn't I in eastern block…?" Gavin rubbed his head and looked to everyone in the room. Besides the other yellow agents and the previously mentioned people Zangulus, Martina, Gourry, Zelgadis and De Tanga were in the room. 

"You mean to tell me that you don't know what happened?" Lina looked at her brother with surprise. 'What did those guys do to him?' "Gavin what do you remember from what happened last to you?" 

"I remember patrolling eastern district with Amelia and then we stopped in a section because it was odd because there was no one there. We went looking around and ended up going down an alleyway because we heard a noise. When we got down there we didn't find anything. And then we turned around to head back and… well come to think of it everything goes black there and the next thing I remember is waking up here in this room. Why what happened to me?" Gavin glanced over to Amelia. The confusion was evident in his eyes and he didn't like the worried look he saw in hers. 

"Well Gavin when we turned around we were jumped by these guys in black suits. Some of them knocked you out and shoved you into a car and drove off. While the other ones kept me restrained and then they knocked me out." 

Gavin now had a bewildered expression on his face. "I was kidnapped?" 

"Yes you were." 

"But I'm back here. How did you guys get me back?" 

"Well we were working on a plan to see if we could get you back only we hadn't received a ransom note and we had no idea of where you were or who your captors were. Only the next thing we knew you were found laying unconscious on the pavement outside STF headquarters only hours after you had been kidnapped." 

"And how long have I been laying here unconscious for?" 

"A few hours as well." 

If Gavin hadn't been confused before he definitely was now. 'I was kidnapped for a few hours and then returned? What the hell, was I reject hostage or something?' "Why would they do that exactly? Has there been anything weird done to me?" Now Gavin looked at himself and around the room with suspicion. 

Rezo with his computer scan re-out in hand answered that one. "As far as we can tell there was nothing done to you at all. Nor was there any reason for you to have stayed unconscious for as many hours as you did. But…" 

"But you're not sure." 

"Exactly." 

Gavin started to looked worried again. 

"Gavin I wouldn't worry about it too much. You're back that's all that matters okay?" Lina said with a lighthearted pat on his back. 

"Yeah I guess so…" Gavin figured it would be best to do what his sister said but he still had his doubts. 

With one of the three mysteries resolved the yellow agents went back to their other two tasks at hand. 

For the first time since the whole STF security breech happened Lina, Leviathan and Gavin went to see their older sister. She didn't look much better then she had been back when it happen, but at least she didn't look worse. 

"Rezo how is Luna anyway? Are you coming up with anything that could help?" 

"Since Lina's discovery about Vernas I have been able to figure out a few things about how Vernas works. Meaning I have a better idea on how he went about creating this toxin then I had known before. So far it hasn't help me to figure out a way to cure the effects of the toxin but I'm sure that I will soon." Rezo gestured over to the section were he was doing his research. Like most of the yellow agents in the lab Rezo had put in a lot of hours working. In fact he had put in much more then practically any of them had. His closest rival in hours worked was Xellos and that's only because he's a monster and doesn't really need to sleep. It baffled many on how Rezo was able to work for so long on such little rest, but somehow he did it, and he did it everyday. Some even thought that Rezo himself might be or be part monster. 

"But what about Luna in the meantime? It could be a while before you could come up with a cure." 

"Well we have managed to keep her medical condition stabilized so far and I'm pretty sure that we can keep her body like that for the time being. Of course I'm being hopeful, I'm not guaranteeing that I will succeed. I merely guaranteeing that I will do everything in my power to help her." Rezo declared, and no one doubted his sincerity. One thing about Rezo was that once you had him started on a problem he wouldn't stop trying till he had a solution. 

"Thank you Rezo." Blitz said with a weak smile. 

"Think nothing of it Blitz. I am a scientist and this is my duty. But perhaps Gavin should be taken home for some rest. After an ordeal like this one I think he might need some time off." 

Blitz nodded to him and they all left the yellow agents, Xellos, Filia and Rezo back to work and went back into the halls of STF headquarters, but unknown to them was the little spy camera that was taping what they were doing. 

***

De Tanga was the only one who said behind in the medical room. He went back to his spot watching over Luna Inverse. 

"Is this what you have been doing with your free time De Tanga?" Xellos went over and sat next to his oldest friend. 

"And what do you mean by that?" 

"Well I have heard of a person watching over Miss Inverse here day and night refusing to leave. That wouldn't have been you now by any chance?" 

De Tanga said nothing. He just sat there staring at Luna. 

"Why stay here? It's not going to make her get better any faster. It's better if you just go somewhere and wait till you hear some news." 

Again De Tanga was silent. 

"But why would you want to stay here?" 

More silence. 

"You know sometimes De Tanga you remind me more of a mortal then a monster." Xellos said with a bit of annoyance in his tone. 

De Tanga weakly smiled. "Is that one of the reasons why you can't figure out a damned idea on why I do and think what I do?" 

"Perhaps. I guess I don't understand you sometimes. Not too surprising you aren't like most monsters. But are you going to answer my question on my you stay here hour after hours?" 

"Nope." De Tanga gave him a crooked smile and Xellos just shook his head. 

***

Gavin whom had been escorted home was now in his bed when the instructions to go to sleep. Only there was a little problem, Gavin wasn't in the least bit tired. His thoughts were still jumbled about what had transpired today. He couldn't figure out the meaning on why he had been taken and what had been done to him. And that was a scary thought. What had been done to him? He had been taken away for a few hours, and even though Rezo had confirmed that they couldn't see that anything had been done to him Gavin couldn't shake the feeling that maybe something had been done to him. And that was the question that was keeping him awake. He began to think of all the possibilities on what could have been done. Though none of his scenarios were plausible or made much sense that didn't stop him from thinking them up. But then who's to say that maybe one of his scenarios wasn't true? Another one of his problems. Part of him was scared out of his mind that some weird and twisted thing had been done to him, while the other part was scolding him for being so paranoid. He couldn't relax so therefore he couldn't sleep. 

A soft knocking on his door brought Gavin out of his thoughts. 

"Come in." He called and his grandmother came in the room with a curious look on her face. 

"You know Gavin you're supposed to be sleeping." Gertrude Smarthsan said with a crooked smile. 

"I know but I can't stop thinking of what could have been done to me. What if I have some sort of new experimental virus that I've been infected with and they are-" 

"If you had a virus in you then Rezo would have detected it." 

"But what if-" 

"Gavin you are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Now Rezo is recognized to be one of the smartest and most brilliant scientist in the nation right?" 

"Yes." 

"Well then if there was something wrong with you then don't you think that Rezo would have found it?" 

Gavin saw her line of reasoning. But still it didn't settle him much. "I know Grandmother, but still I can't stop thinking about it. And as a result I can't sleep." 

"Which is why I've come up here. I've got something to help you sleep. Now I want you to take it and try and get some sleep. You aren't completely fine yet and you need your rest." Gertrude said in a no nonsense tone as she handed him the pill and a glass a water. Gavin complied and swallowed the pill. "Okay I'm going to leave now, and when I come back you'd better be asleep." 

"Okay Grandmother." 

"Sweat dreams." 

Gertrude left Gavin alone and sure enough sleep overtook him quickly. Only his dreams were not that sweet. Images of darkness, pain and destruction filled his head. 


	27. STF part 27

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-seven, Rezo, The Man with the Answers 

By Relm

***

Gavin's dreams had been filled with nothing but terror and violence. He was mortified, scared and confused about what he was experiencing in these dreams. It was like a bad nightmare that wouldn't go away. Only it wouldn't stop and eventually Gavin woke up with a start, breathing very hard with cold sweat trickling down his forehead. Gavin sat there in his room, awoken from his nightmares and he couldn't remember what he had dreamt at all. Gavin couldn't even remember a fuzzy little image from his dream. It was almost as if he hadn't dreamed anything at all. The only evidence that he had that he had had a nightmare was the terrible feeling he had in his gut. But Gavin didn't think much of it. He just went back to sleep. 

***

Later on that morning Lina and Leviathan were watching over Zelgadis, Martina, Zangulus and Gourry's final preparations before their level 3 red agent exams. This is was the big one. At the time of the LPD officers initial registration into STF the higher officials of STF had informed them that they wanted them to get up to at least a level 3 red agent rank. None of them knew exactly what the higher officials wanted them to do once they reached that rank so all they could do was make guesses. Lina and Leviathan figured that they'd just have them do the same thing that a lot of the red agents were doing, searching for information and leads to try and catch Vernas. Though it didn't seem quite right that they had to have four LPD officers specially trained, it's not like there wasn't enough red agents in STF. So there had to be a special purpose for them. But because they couldn't think of what that purpose they were left to have to wait and see. 

The way preparations were going for the level 3 exam, it looked like they weren't going to have much problems with passing the exam. But of course they still didn't have any idea on how they might do during the test. LPD officers equivalent in rank was that of a level two red agent. What they were going for now was beyond anything they had ever previously trained for as LPD officers. _Will I pass? Will I fail?_ Those were the thoughts that were going inside their minds. 

"So how are you doing?" Lina asked Zelgadis whom seemed to be the most stressed out of the four former LPD officers. 

"I'm worried that I'm going to fail this. I didn't worry that much with the other two tests because I knew for certain that I shouldn't have had any trouble passing. But this goes beyond what I know that I'm definitely capable of." He met her eyes with ones filled with worry and uncertainty. 

"Hey Zel do you remember what I said a little while back. I said that you'd probably be able to get up to my rank." 

"Yeah and?" 

"Well I meant it. Zel you'll do fine, believe me you'll pass I know you will." Lina gave him a pat on the back and a warm smile. He smiled weakly back. And now if was time to the LPD officers to take their first test of the many that they needed to pass in order to become a level three red agent. 

Lina went and sat down next to her brother and shook her head. 

"You needed to give Zelgadis a little pep talk?" Leviathan grinned. 

"Yup. Isn't it silly? One the person out of this group who has the highest chances of passing and he's the most stressed about it doubting his own abilities." Lina frowned and shook her head again. 

Leviathan laughed. 'Well that's Zel for ya, a real perfectionist.' "But tell me Lina who do you think might have trouble with this level of testing?" 

"Well as you know Zel shouldn't have much of a problem at all. But lets see, the rest of them have things that might hamper them. Like both Zangulus and Gourry don't use bio guns so that might not go in their favor. Of course they have exceptional sonic blade skills so that does make up for it. But then we have Gourry's slow learning and forgetfulness so that might be a problem if he forgets vital information that he shouldn't forget. And they might deem Zangulus' attitude unfit to be a level three red agent because how he treats his co-workers. As for Martina her problems are her physical. She's a great interrogator and she's great at memorizing stuff and paying close detail to things, but in short she's a klutz. She's not the most coordinated person and also her bio gun skills are not that favorable." 

"So basically they have their good sides and bad sides. It's just a matter to the testers on which points they think are more crucial." 

Lina nodded in agreement. 

***

Gavin walked around the STF halls like a zombie. He was there hours before he needed to be and his mind was a muddle. His sleep wasn't good at all. He kept having these bad nightmares, but like the first one we wouldn't remember what it was about when he woke up. It was bothering him a bit but he didn't think too much of it. 

Even though Amelia hadn't signed into STF headquarters yet Gavin decided to see what their duties were for that day. And he wasn't surprised to see that they had been assigned to patrol around STF halls like security guards. Since yesterday's incident it seemed that the higher officials didn't see that it would be a good idea to have Gavin put out on the streets. And Gavin didn't blame them. He could easily see their reasoning and was fine with it. Also it worked his favor because due to yesterday's shock and his lack of street he didn't really feel up to doing street work. 

Though it did seem funny doing STF hallway patrolling. That was a job that was usually given to red level one agent. Reason being level one agents are just above a trainee but still quite far from a level two agent in status. Level ones had the information but not the skills and experience to actually do any street work. So they were assigned to patrol around STF headquarters to give them something constructive to do and to help them get more associated with STF's build structure and layout. Of course since the STF headquarters in the past were more or less considered to be practically impenetrable they STF higher officials didn't have to really worry about any security breaches. So that's why didn't have any problem assigning this task to level one agents. But since the whole incident with Ozer's break in it was clear that they were taking a few more precautions then they had in the past. 

"I wonder if Amelia will be annoyed on having to do hallway patrolling?" Gavin said with a laugh. 

***

Lina and Leviathan watched the clock as it ticked away. It was all they had to do, watch the clock. They needed to stay there until the LPD officers finished their test. The worst thing about this was the fact that the level three tests were significantly longer then the previous two. So they were going to be stuck there for a very long time. And to make matters worse, Lina was hungry… 

***

Back in the high tec laboratories of STF headquarters Rezo was once again trying to unravel the two mysteries set before him. One the mystery of Luna's condition, two making sense of Ozer's DNA which was a complete mystery all it's own. 

Rezo wasn't sure which one he should focus on more. The DNA sample or Luna's condition, he seemed to be getting nowhere with both cases. It was rather frustrating. But Rezo wasn't going to stop until he reveled these mysteries out. And that's one of the reasons why people feared for his health. He was getting far too obsessed. It was just like when he was trying a way to gain sight with his blind eyes. He was so completely obsessed that many thought if he hadn't figured out to see that he might have gone mad. Perhaps he would have, perhaps he wouldn't. 

Rezo stared at the blaring computer screen. He was reviewing the same computer scan results that he had looked at a dozen of times over the past three days. His eyes hurt as well as his head. 'I'm working too hard…' Rezo rubbed his temples and leaned back in his chair. 'If only I could find a way to relax…' Rezo closed his eyes and then it hit him. An idea that caused him to stiffen in chair and open his eyes really wide. It also caused him to fall down. 

"Dr. Rezo are you alright?" One of the lower ranked yellow agents asked his superior. But Rezo ignored his subordinate and sprung to his feet with renewed energy. 

"Dr. Rezo what's up?" Filia looked at the head yellow agent with a bit of curiosity. 

"I have an idea! And it just might help Luna Inverse's condition!" Rezo practically yelled out. Everyone in the room came to him to see what the great one had thought up. 

***

The leader of the black suited people watched a video display of Rezo with interest as Rezo told the rest of his fellow yellow agents in the lab his new theory. 

"Well I'll be damned. Old Rezo actually thought of something that might help that Luna girl. I didn't think that he even be able to think up of anything or at least not before it was too late." The leader laughed. 

"Do bare in mind Sir that Rezo happens to be STF's greatest scientific mind." 

"Yeah greatest scientific mind huh? Not so great I'd say. He didn't even realize what we had done to Gavin Inverse." 

***

Gavin and Amelia were doing their day's duty, wall patrolling. Amelia acted like she didn't mind but Gavin was very aware that she was disappointed. 'It's all my fault. If Amelia had been signed on to work with a different red level two agent then she would be stuck doing this pointless job.' Of course Gavin didn't dare voice his thoughts. Because if he did he knew the type of reaction he would get from Amelia. So he kept them to himself. 

"I wonder if they have level two red agents doing the hallway patrolling then what's the level one agents doing now?" Gavin mused. He didn't know why but some reason he found himself paying closer attention to certain parts and section of STF as they passed by them. He would look at something and store it in his head for future reference. And he didn't know why he was doing it. He was just finding himself compelled to do it. 

"Probably the same thing that most orange agents are doing." 

"What's that?" 

"Training." Amelia rolled her eyes as she said that. She had been listening to many complaints this morning from various level one agents and trainees that they were being forced to training instead of doing anything else. 

"Well speaking of training, when do you plan on doing your serious training so that you can take your level one exams Amelia?" Gavin asked while memorizing the look of a security lock. He really wanted to smack himself in the head or something. This random analyzing thing was really starting to bug him. 

Amelia on the other hand hadn't noticed what Gavin had been doing besides talking to her. "Well um I don't know… I don't know if I'm ready for it yet." Amelia spoke in a small and embarrassed voice. 

"What do you mean you don't think you are ready?! All you need to do set aside some time to do some real serious training then all you need to do is take the test. Believe me I know you'll pass. Hell you've already assisted Lina on some things that way exceeds my rank." 

"Yeah but if I go do the tests I'll have to go and do my level two one two just in order for me to be able to do anything besides stuff like hallway patrolling." 

Gavin just shrugged. 

***

Since Lina had been very hungry when the test had started they had food brought them. And due to boredom Lina and Leviathan were playing cards. 

"Do you think they are close to being finished?" Leviathan discarded a card. 

"Well based on the average time that it takes a level two agent to finish this test, yes I'd say they would be close to finishing. But then that's the average agent. For all we know they could take a hell of a lot more time or they could be done-" 

Lina was cut off by Zelgadis, Martina, Zangulus and Gourry dragging themselves in. 

"now." 

"Hi guys how was it? And how come you all came back at the same time?" 

Something sounding like 'ugh' was their first answer to Lev's first question. Zelgadis decided to give an answer more then a syllable for the second question. 

"They kept everyone in there until everyone finished the tests." And Zelgadis after saying that collapsed on the floor. Followed by Zangulus, Martina and Gourry. 

"So I guess you guys are tired huh?" Leviathan said with a cheery smile. In return he got four sets of tired and annoyed eyes glaring at him. 

***

Upon hearing Rezo's theory everyone in the lab went to work to see if it was possible for his idea to work. 

There was quite a buzz among all the yellow agents in the lab. Each of them were normally tired and wiped out with practically no energy from working so hard. Only now with a possible solution for one of their problems in hand they had an abundance of energy that they didn't have before. 

"Have you run the probability scan through the computer yet so see what the chances of this theory to work?" Rezo asked one of his subordinates. 

"I'm doing so now Dr. Rezo. According to the scan we have a 76 percent probably of your new theory helping Luna's condition." 

"What are the chances of the idea completely curing her?" 

"According to the computer 49.5 percent." 

Even with that news that didn't bring Rezo down. They were finally close to a solution. 


	28. STF part 28

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-eight, Plans About to be Put Into Motion

By Relm

***

Since Rezo's medical discovery he hadn't told Blitz. The reason being was because Rezo was still unsure on whether or not the idea would work. 

Basically the idea was to relax the toxin in her system to a more dormant stage (like they had been doing before) and increasing her immune system with a special formula that Rezo created to literally destroy the toxin. Before they had been slowing down her whole entire bodies' functions. 

Whether the plan would work or not that wasn't bringing down the spirits of all the yellow agent staff in the lab. They had high hopes for Rezo's idea. 

***

Back in the examination prep room Martina, Zelgadis, Gourry and Zangulus were still laying on the floor. 

"Aren't you guys hungry?" Lina asked them in hopes of getting them to get up. 

"Too tired to eat…" 

Lina and Leviathan shook their heads. "Well you guys can't stay here all day." 

"Why not?" 

"Because there is going to be other testing going on and people are going to need to use this prep room too." 

The tired four groaned and slowly got to their feet. And thus Leviathan and Lina leaded them towards the cafeteria. 

"I suggest that you guys get something to eat and go home. You need to be well rested for your first assignments at level three red agents." 

"That's assuming Lina that we passed. We could have easily failed." Zelgadis the ever so positive one stated. 

"Well do you guys think you passed? Or did you think that you bad?" 

The four of them looked to each other with a bit of indecision. The truth was that not one of them was really sure. When they did the physical tests all the evaluators would just give them an emotionless stare and then write something down in their evaluations. The evaluators didn't even give them a slightest hint if they did something good or bad. They just had these blank expressions and wrote in those little books. They didn't even talk. They just told them what to do and that was all. 

It was the same with the informational and psychological evaluators. They just asked questions and wrote down the answers said and what their evaluation of it was. They gave them no indication if their answers were correct or incorrect. It was quite stressing for the three of them. 

"In all honestly, I have no idea." 

Lina frowned at him. Now of course it had been a while since she took her last examinations but she still figured that they should have been able to at least guess if they did well or not. It had Lina questioning her own capabilities. Every test she went into she was always confident that she would pass. And while taking the tests she was always sure that she did things right and answered correctly. But that's just the same she may have been answering those questions wrong or doing things wrong. "Oh well if you pass it you pass it, if you don't then you don't. It doesn't matter if you fail it you can just take it over again. No one penalizes you for failing a test a test here. And besides no one here has done this many tests within such a small amount of time like you guys. A lot of the times most orange agents don't go on to take their red level one examination until they have been an orange agent for at least a year. Some wait even longer then that. So basically don't worry about it, and let's go eat!" 

***

In Vald city center building where the main offices of Vald government were the high officials of Vald and STF sat at another one of their meetings. 

"So what's the status of our special red agents?" Senator Dynast asked starting off their meeting. 

"Well the four of them just finished taking their red level three examinations just a short while ago." Senator Fibrizo read the report in front of him. 

"Did they pass?" 

"At this point we can't be sure. The STF agents doing the evaluations are still working out the scores. But from what we've been told it looks like they may have passed." 

"If they pass then we can finally put our plan into motion. The question is, is it too late?" 

The room was silent to Senator Gaav's question. And like usual Senator Cassandra was the one to answer. 

"First of all we don't have solid proof that the four of them passed, we only have an educated guess. But they if they pass then it wouldn't be too late. So far the STF has been managing to delay Ozer and Vernas. Even with the change of their experiment's required items they still haven't been able to get a hold of everything. For the time being we should be fine. But if it comes down to the problem of the four LPD officers not passing their level three test then we might be in a bit of trouble for time and may have to work around them not being at level three." 

Everyone in the room gasped. There was a specific reason why the higher officials wanted the four LPD officers to be at least a level three ranking. Without a level three ranking the higher officials could get into a lot of trouble with the law if they sent the four LPD officers out to do their plan with only a level two ranking especially if something went wrong. 

"We can't do that! Their training wouldn't be sufficient enough! Just think of all that red tape whether or not something bad does happen." 

"Well the fact remains that we don't have that much time left. If you have any other options then I would be glad to hear them because this is the only plan we've got." Senator Cassandra looked at them all sternly. She didn't like having to do this. She didn't like having to do anything concerning this case. Neither she nor anyone else in the room wanted to order the four LPD officers and Lina and Leviathan Inverse to do what they had planned. But sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do for the better of others. All they could hope was that the six of them come out of this alive. "Well does anyone else have an alternative for us? No? Well then things will proceed as planned. If the problem does arise of the LPD officers not passing then we'll take care of that problem when and if it happens." 

***

Amelia and Gavin sat in the cafeteria eating their lunch. Their hallway patrolling hadn't been terribly exciting so they were glad that it was time to go eat. 

The cafeteria was a busy as it usually was. No matter what time of the day it was the cafeteria was always busy with STF agents. Because not all agents work the same shifts. Some work the day and others work the night. 

Amelia was eating up her food at a normal pace (for her that is) and Gavin just picked at his food. He wasn't sure why but he wasn't that hungry. And to make matters worse he had quite a large headache. Of course he didn't tell Amelia, he'd rather not worry her about it. Though she did notice that he wasn't eating. 

"Gavin what's wrong? Don't like the food?" 

"Um, no I'm just not that hungry…" 

Amelia looked at him with a bit of shock. Now she was aware that Gavin wasn't acting entirely like his normal self and that was to be expected after what he went through yesterday. But him not hungry? Now there had to be something really wrong. 

"You're not hungry? Gavin are you feeling alright?" 

"I'm fine really." Gavin tried his best to reassure her. He even smiled to show that he was fine. Amelia just looked at him with suspicion. 

"Well in any case it's dangerous for you to do anything without proper nutrition. So we'll just have to get you to have more of those nutrition supplement pills." 

Normally Gavin would protest to this but he didn't bother today. 

***

Only minutes after Gavin and Amelia left the cafeteria Lina, Leviathan and their tired comrades entered the bustling room. 

"It's busy like always. So I guess we'd better head out to the line and-" Leviathan stopped what he was saying once he noticed that the four LPD officers had flopped down at a table with no intentions of getting up. They even looked like they were about to fall asleep too. 

"Looks like if they are going to eat we're going to have get their food for them." 

Lina rolled her eyes at her brother and then laughed. "Oh I don't think the people in the kitchen are going to like us taking so much food." 

"Yeah they are probably going to think it's all for us." 

The twins laughed and then made their way to the line. 

Moments later they returned with many trays of food and many people of the kitchen staff glaring daggers at them. 

"Here you are!" Lina announced as she and Leviathan placed the trays down on the table. Now before the LPD officers had made it very clear that they had no energy to eat. Only now instead of being dead tired and barely able to move they were eating like they hadn't been tired at all. 

"I thought you guys said you were too tired to eat." 

"When you're hungry nothing matters." 

***

An amber fluid was being injected into Luna Inverse's body while the yellow agents were working on her condition. Rezo and the others had managed to isolate the toxin in Luna's system and were now working on increasing her immune system. Now this fluid that would increase Luna's immune system would only work temporally and it would only work this one time. After that Luna's body would reject the fluid and it would have no effect at all. So they were hoping to destroy all the toxin in her body. But there was the chance that her body might not even recognize the toxin to be a foreign agent and may not even attack it. Or maybe Luna's body might attack the toxin but not get rid of it completely. 

"How is Luna's status?" Rezo asked one of the lower yellow agents working with him that was monitoring Luna's condition. 

"Her heart rate is good and nothing seems to be happening that we didn't expect." 

"Good. Now all we have to do is monitor her condition and wait to see. Let's just hope that we'll have good news to tell Blitz in a couple of hours." Rezo said more to himself then to the other yellow agent. 

***

De Tanga sat in the simulated park again collecting his thoughts. He had heard about Rezo's plans to help Luna and was hoping that everything would go through. Some people in STF were aware that Luna had been having a relationship with a fellow agent, but few were aware that it was De Tanga that she was dating. 

De Tanga had been working at STF for quite some time now. He had seen and trained many orange agents. He didn't train Luna though, Luna had been trained by another blue agent. But De Tanga did know of her by the rumors that circulated around about her abilities. De Tanga hadn't paid any attention to any of those rumors. And for years he had worked in STF headquarters without really knowing who Luna Inverse really was. Sure he had seen her around and he knew of her family but he didn't know her and hadn't said more then two words at a time to her. But about five years ago De Tanga had been asked to put his role as a blue agent on hiatus and help a red agent with a case. He could still remember when he first saw the person he had to work with, Luna Inverse. Though he wasn't surprised to be assigned to work with her, he was surprised about Luna herself. She appears to be a very cold and uncaring individual only De Tanga was aware that it was more or less an act. She was just one of those people who had more trouble then others expressing herself. That and she liked invoking fear in others. 

After that case the two of them became friends, but it wasn't like your average normal friendship. It was a bit different. There was this mutual understanding between the two. Well a year later after their first case together, Luna was finally made a green agent. Luna found herself busier then she had ever been before but she still did stuff with De Tanga. But it wasn't till a year ago that anything beyond friendship between the two. It basically happened after Whynn was trying to play matchmaker and set De Tanga up on a blind date. Only the date didn't go exactly as De Tanga expected when he found out that night who his blind date was. He ended up on a date with Luna of all people. Well the two of them made the most of it but when a cute blond girl at the restaurant they were eating at starting hitting on De Tanga, Luna decided to take charge. 

Not only did she say that she was on a date with De Tanga but also that he was her fiancé and should get the hell out of their faces. Naturally the girl went off after that. 

De Tanga's first reaction was one of shock. All that he could do was stare at Luna. Then afterwards he laughed and laughed long and hard. Luna evilly smiled and the two of them hit it off after that. 

It wasn't that they had been trying to keep their relationship a secret it was just that they hadn't been too public with it. But neither care if people knew that they were dating. 

But now De Tanga was left worrying about Luna. Unlike most monsters his age he hadn't been a serious relationship before. This was his first. So he was unaccustomed to this fear. He was afraid that he might lose Luna and there was nothing that he could do about it. If De Tanga knew where to find Ozer it was certain that he found go after him with a moments hesitation. 


	29. STF part 29

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Twenty-nine, Author Back from the Dead

By Relm

***

Zelgadis flopped onto his bed. He was tired, very tired. After they had ate their lunch at the STF cafeteria, Zelgadis, Martina, Gourry and Zangulus had gone their separate ways and headed to their own separate homes. 

Given how tired he was, one might think that he'd fall asleep right on contact with his bed. But the thing was he was too tired to sleep if that's even possible. And he was worrying, worrying about whether or not he passed or what he'd end up doing as level three red agent if he got the position. He had no idea what was in store for him as a level three red agent. Being level three would be beyond anything that he had ever done as a police officer. He was both afraid and looking forward to it. 'Great and I have to wait until tomorrow before I find out if I passed or not. How am I supposed to sleep tonight?!' Zelgadis groaned and decided to get up and make himself some tea. 

***

Beads of sweat dripped down Rezo's forehead. They were at the critical moments of the procedure. Luna's system should have reacted to the formula that had been injected into her body, only they found no signs of any change. Luna remained the same as she had before. 

"Any change in her status?" Rezo tiredly called to one of the yellow agents assisting him. 

"I'm sorry Dr. Rezo, there still isn't any change yet." 

Rezo stared back to the motionless form of Luna Inverse. 'It seems so odd that such a strong person such as Blitz's daughter could reduced to such a docile form. It's a good thing that I didn't tell Blitz about this procedure. If I had then I might have gotten his hopes up for nothing.' 

Though the initial anticipation of it working had been high, now things didn't seem so bright. More time ticked away and still they were no better then from the start. 

***

Amelia signed Gavin and her back in from their lunch break at the report center. She had been unsuccessful as trying to get Gavin to go see someone about what was wrong with him. Amelia was worried Gavin seemed preoccupied and spacey. And that incident at the cafeteria with him not being hungry had her extra worried. But Gavin had assured her that everything was alright and despite her better judgment she caved in and stopped bothering Gavin about how he was feeling. 

"Here, I've signed Gavin and I back in." Amelia called to the receptionist at the report center to notify her that she was done at the sign in console. 

"Thank you Miss Sailune, you may leave now and go back to your duties." 

Amelia smiled and nodded and went back to were she left Gavin sitting. He was sitting on one of the chairs in the reception area. Amelia frowned in worry. Gavin was staring off into space seeming as though he wasn't aware of what was going on around him. What worried Amelia the most was that in this dazed out state Gavin had a pained expression on his face. 

"Gavin? Gavin is something wrong?" Amelia asked with concern kneeling to look Gavin in the face. 

Though she was right in Gavin's view he seemed to not see her. Or rather it seemed like he was looking straight through her as if she was invisible. Amelia couldn't help but shudder at that thought. 

"Gavin?" Amelia asked once again but this time putting her hand on his shoulder. 

On contact with Amelia's hand Gavin jolted back into reality. "Huh? What?" Gavin stared into Amelia's eyes. He hadn't known what had just happened or where his mind had been when he had zoned out like that. The only thoughts that were running through his mind were Amelia was kneeling very close to his face. 

"Finally you've snapped out of it." Amelia flashed him a little smile. 

Gavin returned that smile with a slight blush. Amelia looked at him a little confused. 'He's blushing? Why would he be doing that?' Then Amelia realized just how close she was to Gavin and that she still had her hand on his shoulder. Amelia turned bright red in embarrassment and snatched her hand back and backed away. "S-sorry about that." 

Gavin smiled. "No don't be. You were concerned about me right?" 

"Yes you seemed to be in a different world." Amelia regain her composure and the same concern look she had on her face before returned. "Gavin what happened? I called you and didn't answer me. You didn't even seem to see me." 

Gavin's gaze fell to the ground. He couldn't explain it himself. It was like one moment he was in STF headquarters, and then the next minute he was elsewhere. And he could even remember where elsewhere had been. "I guess I was just daydreaming. Anyway we've wasted enough time here, how about we get back to work?" Gavin flashed her a fake cheery smile while getting out of his chair. 

"Yeah I guess so." Even though Gavin tried to best to cover up his uneasiness with a fake smile Amelia could easily see through it. 'What's going on with you Gavin? And why wont you tell me?' 

***

Lina had many things running through her head as she did push ups in on of the rec room's various weight rooms. Ever since Gourry, Martina, Zelgadis and Zangulus had left for home Lina had been doing weight training and other physical training. 

She did her last push up and let herself sprawl out on the floor. 

"Doing some extra training Lina?" 

Lina craned her neck to see that her twin brother Leviathan was in the doorway staring at her. 

"Hi Lev." Lina tried to get up but still ended up being on the ground. 'Opps, I guess I over did it a little.' 

"Here let me help you up." Leviathan knelt down and lent Lina a hand. "So why are you putting yourself through such physical torture, sister dear?" Leviathan grinned at her but stopped once he noticed that Lina wasn't smiling back. 

"I've got a bad feeling about the case we have assigned to us." Lina said in a serious tone. 

"What do you mean, watching over the LPDs training?" 

"No that's okay. I'm talking about what we have to do once they reach red level three status. We don't know exactly what little surprises are going to await us." 

Leviathan looked at in disbelief. "What are you so worried about? We're not the ones assigned to deal with Ozer. Our job is to find Vernas, nothing more." 

"Are you so sure about that? Because I'm not. I've got this feeling that the higher officials have something else in mind for us to do." 'Why else would they want us to get Zelgadis and the others to a level three rank? If were only going to do what all the other agents at our rank are doing then what would be the point of doing all this stuff concerning Zel and the others? Doesn't make sense.' "But that's not the only thing Lev. Look at everything that has been happening lately. Gavin getting kidnapped, Luna being stuck in a coma, and we were almost killed. Even if they don't have special things planned for us to do whose to say that we might be in danger anyway?" 

"So is that why you are training? To make sure that you're prepared?" Leviathan handed her a bottle of water. 

"Yeah I guess so. That and I'm bored." Lina smirked while taking a swig of the water. 

Leviathan lightly chuckled while shaking his head. 

***

Vernas studied the information displayed on one of the computer screens that were in front of him. What was being displayed was all the recent reports on what the STF had been doing from his and Ozer's little spies. 

"Ozer, come see this." Vernas hailed the wanted man over to the computer screens. 

Ozer looked at the information displayed on the screen. "STF is having only red level three and up agents doing city patrolling?" Ozer raised an eyebrow in amusement. 

"Yes since that incident with the youngest Inverse child being kidnapped STF is being more cautious." 

"So they have their red level two agents staying in STF headquarters?" 

"It would assume so." 

Ozer glared at Vernas with a bored look. "You wanted to come over here just tell me that? It's hardly that interesting." 

"No, no, I also wanted to show you this." Vernas pointed out another section of information. It was showing what the STF red level five and higher agents were doing. They were the ones assigned to look for Ozer and Vernas' hideout. What Vernas was pointing out was how close they were getting to their hideaway. 

'It's like a game of 'Battleships' picking spots to attack but just barely missing the targets without even knowing it.' Ozer crudely smiled. "So they are starting to get closer to our base huh? Well if they sink my battleship it's still going to be too late. Are the supplies we want here yet?" 

"Some of them. The last ones are coming later." Though Vernas wanted to comment what Ozer meant by 'sinking his battleship' but he refrained. 'Sometimes I wonder if his mind was a little overcooked or cracked.' 

Ozer smiled and walked off humming an off key song that sounded sour and twisted. 

Vernas shook his head at his estranged partner in crime. 'Damned Ozer doesn't seem to give a damn whether or not we get caught! Doesn't he see how damned close they are?!?! They could get us even before we have a chance to put our experiment through! And what then?! What would he do? Probably just laugh like the insane psycho that he is.' Vernas turned his attentions from the display screen to the supply inventory. 'Well we do have most of what we need. But will Ozer do once the experiment is over? What will I do?' He shook off those thoughts and continued with his work. 'I'll worry about that later when the time comes.' 

***

Rezo was sitting in a black, white and gray room that he didn't recognize. In this room he was surrounded by floating equations, numbers and letters that kept multiplying in number. They kept increasing in number until they filled the room and started to squish Rezo due to lack of space. Rezo wanted to stop it but he wasn't able to. He wasn't able to do much, he didn't have much strength. Looking down at his hands he realized why he was so weak, he was in the body of a child. And with that realization everything went dark and black like it was when he was blind. 

Rezo opened his eyes and the cybernetic implants booted up. He had fallen asleep at the desk he was sitting at while waiting for reports on changes in Luna's condition. 'Oh that's a scary thought, I guess you know when you've been looking at numbers and equations for too long once you start to dream about them.' Rezo would have chuckled on that thought only given the situation he wasn't in much of a laughing mood. "How come no one woke me up when I fell asleep? And how long was asleep for?" Rezo addressed the room of yellow agents. 

"Well you've been working so hard Dr. Rezo so we all know that you're not getting proper sleep. So when you fell asleep we just figured that we'd let you sleep until we had any new news." 

Rezo sunk low in his chair. "So I take since I wasn't woken up that there is nothing new to report?" 

"I'm sorry Dr. Rezo there isn't. And you were asleep for a little over a half an hour." 

Rezo looked at the time displayed on his watch. It had been quite some time now since they had injected the formula into Luna Inverse's system, and still no effect. 'I guess her body isn't recognizing the formula or the toxin.' Rezo sighed and went back to doing more studies of the Ozer's DNA samples. 

***

Twenty minutes later there still was no change in Luna Inverse's condition. Under orders of the other yellow agents Rezo had been forced to go get something to eat since he had skipped lunch. He munched on his turkey sandwich he brought back with him to the lab rather then eating it in the cafeteria. Though it was a good sandwich Rezo probably would have been fine eating styrofoam because that's what the sandwich was tasting like to him. 'Been drinking too much coffee lately, probably killed my taste buds.' 

"Any change?" Rezo asked after swallowing another mouthful of his food. 

By the looks of the other yellow the agents he figured that the answer was no. Rezo sighed, it was really getting frustrating. 

Then all of a sudden the monitors displaying Luna's condition made warning noises. Luna's body was convulsing and her face was turning blue. 

"What's going on?!" Rezo yelled over the noise as he rushed over to where Luna was laying. 

"I have no idea Dr. Rezo!" 

Everyone rushed over to Luna trying to do whatever they could help, but luck didn't seem to be on their side. No matter what they tried Luna seemed to getting worse. It seemed the her body was having a violent reaction to the inject formula, that or it was some of the effects of the toxin in her system countering her body's defense. 

Then suddenly Luna's body stopped convulsing and it relaxed and the pained expression that had been on Luna's face was gone. Now all she had absolutely no expression on her face. 

"Is she stabilized?" Rezo let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that was all over. 

"In a manner of speaking." 

"What do you mean by that?" Rezo was a bit appalled at the tone of voice that the yellow agent had. 

"According to the machines she's dead." 


	30. STF part 30

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Thirty, Luna Inverse

By Relm

***

Rezo's eyes widened in shock. "Dead?! She's dead?!" 'This can't be happening… Oh god what have I done? What am I going to tell Blitz?' 

"No she isn't dead." 

Rezo whom was starting to get lost in his own thoughts snapped out of it and stared at the yellow agent. "Wait a minute, what do you mean? You just said that according to the machines Luna Inverse is in fact dead." 

The yellow agent turned around to look at Rezo in the face, "Yes according to the machines she's dead, but if you check for yourself, you can clearly see that Luna is still alive." 

Rezo checked, and he could see that Luna was in fact alive. But both her breathing and pulse were very faint and almost not noticeable. "Is there something wrong the machines?" 

"No there isn't. They should be in complete working order. Ever since this whole situation with Luna, all the machines have been routinely checked to make sure that they are in working. And they were just checked recently. But I'll go get some other machines to double check, though I doubt that something would be wrong with them so quickly, they are only less then a year old." The yellow agent got up from his chair and went off to go in search of other machines to use. 

Rezo stared at the still form of Luna Inverse with a frown. 'What is going on?' Against Rezo's better judgment he called up Blitz from his office. 

"Blitz?" 

_"Hi Rezo, is there any new news about Luna?"_

"Um yes there is…" 

There was a slight pause on both sides. 

_"Is there something wrong with Luna?"_

"I think you'd better come down here, I have a feeling that this wouldn't be something I could explain unless you were here for me to show you." 

***

Lina wandered around the halls of STF headquarters without a real destination in mind. Since all the former LPD officers had left to go home a while ago Lina had no real reason to be there. Leviathan had gone off to flirt with a level two agent who had long dark blue hair leaving Lina all by herself. 

She sat down at a bench near one of the registration rooms. 'What am I going to do now? I've got nothing that I want to do at home and I have no idea what I could do here or where I could go. And even if I knew a place I'd want to go I wouldn't want to go by myself.' She sighed and rubbed her forehead. One thought that had crossed her mind was to go back and do some more physical training; only her body was quick to disagree with her. She had already put herself through enough physical torture for one day. 

'Still leaves me back at square one. Hmm… I guess I could work by myself and see what I can find out. But what can I do? And where could I go for information?' Lina chewed on her bottom lip in thought. 'Well the problem is that if I go somewhere I'll probably be going places that all the other agents have gone for information. But then again who says that they are really doing their jobs right? I've found more information staying in STF headquarters then they all have on the field. Hmm… well there is one place I could go.' Lina got up and went to the reception area to sign out to go out on the field. On the way over there she was ran into her brother who was just getting rejected by the level two agent that he had been trying to flirt with. 

"Stuck out Lev?" Lina grinned mischievously. 

"I don't want to speak about it." 

Lina laughed and pat her brother on the back. "Hey Lev do you want to come with me?" 

"Where are you going?" 

"I'm thinking of going to check out the special prison that they had Ozer in before he escaped with Vernas." 

Leviathan gave her a weird look. "And why exact would you want to go there for?" 

"I was thinking of seeing if I can find information on Ozer and Vernas." 

"But Lina STF agents have been there time and time again trying to find info. What could you find that hasn't already been found already?" 

Now it was Lina's time to give Leviathan a weird look. "Well just because they found so much information doesn't mean that I can't find out something that might be useful for me. Because you know as well as I do that just because other agents found information before doesn't mean that it's information that I know of. STF is too damned secretive with information." 

"Yeah I guess you're right about that." 

"So are you going to come with me?" 

"Sure." 

***

A few hours later Blitz, Rezo and other yellow agent staff were gathered around Luna Inverse's body. The situation had been completely explained to Blitz and the other yellow agents that had come to see about the problem. 

"As you can see the machines are in complete working order as well as the other machines that have been brought out that we tested, but still they all give the same results. They all say that Luna here is no longer among the living, but we know that she is alive." One of the more engineer type yellow agents summed up for everyone. 

There was a slight pause among the group. 

"So the question is why do the machines all say that Luna is dead when in fact she isn't?" 

"It's quite possible that the effects of toxin perhaps may make it appear to the machines that she is dead." Rezo said more to himself then to the group. He was lost in his thoughts on the very natures of this toxin that Vernas created. 'Why would someone with such a brilliant mind use his talents to make something like this? Why would he want to intentionally want to hurt another? But then it wasn't really Vernas who infected Luna. Vernas probably created the toxin without much thought onto using it. And I doubt not even the greatest minds could make sense of Ozer's twisted mind.' 

"But what purpose could that have?" Blitz was getting a headache. He was torn between worry and confusion. 

"It might be so that it makes monitoring her heath very difficult. So that unless you are watching her constantly and closely, you wouldn't be aware of her condition worsening." 

"Well how is her condition now?" 

"Now I know it looks like she is in worse shape then she was before, and maybe she is, but the fact remains is that Rezo's plan seems to be working to some degree. Since the formula was injected into Luna's body and when her body had that violent reaction to it making it seem as though she's dead there has been some improvements. It looks like the toxin is finally beginning to be destroyed and rid from her system." Xellos answered for Rezo. 

"So you are saying that she is going to be alright? That she's going to be okay?" 

"No I'm not exactly saying that. Right now if everything does continue the way it does, then yes she will make it through. But at the same time her body could shut down on her and she could die. If we keep a good eye on her and make sure that we know her condition at all times then perhaps if something like that was ever to happen then we'd be prepared." 

Blitz looked over to Rezo with a deadly stare. "Rezo could I speak to you for a few minutes, alone." He put emphasis on the 'alone' and looked around at the other people in the room. 

Everyone looked at each other with wide eyes. They knew that just from the tone of voice that Blitz wasn't in the best of moods. And when Blitz is in a bad mood it's best to stay as far away as you can get. 

No one followed Blitz and Rezo as they went into the hall, and all of the people in the hall vacated very quickly. 

Blitz glared at Rezo, while Rezo timidly met his eye. There was a still deathly silence between the two of them. Blitz didn't know what to say. He was torn between hugging the man that might have possibly saved his eldest daughter's life, or to shove him against the wall for putting Luna into danger without even telling him what he was going to do. He eventually decided for neither. "Rezo…" 

Rezo didn't say anything he just stared at the ground. 

"Rezo, why didn't you tell me that you were going to do some new procedure to Luna? That you might have found a way to reverse her condition?" Blitz was very careful to keep his voice as very neutral and monotone as he could as if not to show some of the emotions he was feeling. 

"The reason why I didn't tell you is because I didn't know that it was going to work and I figured that it would be better not to tell you so as not to get your hopes up." 

There was silence between the two men again. Rezo didn't even want to look up to Blitz's face. 

"But the fact does remain that you should have told me. What if she was to die instead? What would you have done?" 

"I would have told you right away. But you have to believe me Blitz; I had no idea that it was going to jeopardize her condition so much. Otherwise I would have asked you before hand, before doing such a dangerous thing. I truly am sorry for not saying anything to you." Rezo brought his gaze up to Blitz to see that his expression had softened. 

"I know your sorry, Rezo. And I guess I really shouldn't blame you, I'd probably would have done the same thing in your position. But thanks to you she might make it through. Anyway I think we've been chatting around here for too long. We both have a lot of work to do." Blitz grinned a ghost of his usual grin. 

"Alright. I'll make sure to keep you posted if there are any changes." 

"Thanks Rezo." 

Blitz walked off to his office while Rezo breathed a sigh of relief. If he hadn't known Blitz for so long and had been such good friends with the bad tempered green agent then chances are he wouldn't have gotten off so lucky. 'Now time to divert my attentions back to helping Luna.' 

***

Lina and Leviathan approached the prison/science research center that Ozer had been held in for a period of time. It looked like a cross between some really classified science test center and a maximum-security prison. It was a massive building with guards and tons of scientists on the scene. From what it looked like, no one could get in, and no one could get out. 

"Gee, do ya think they are going to let us in?" Leviathan mused looking at the entrance. 

"If we were just two normal teenagers? Nope. Anyway let's go." 

Lina and Leviathan went up to the entrance with many people glaring at them. Lina was very tempted to doing something crazy just to bug them but Leviathan nudged her to continue on. 

The man at the entrance was a bird faced, sour middle-aged man who looked like he hated the world. He gave the two Inverse twins a very nasty look before talking to them. 

"What do you two punks want? Go on scram! This isn't a place for teenaged delinquents." The man growled at them. It was very obvious that he hadn't been having the best of days. 

"I don't think so. We've come to go and do some investigation work concerning a former patient/criminal that was being held here." Lina glared back at the man with an evil grin. Being the age that she was she had to deal with people like him a lot. 

The man's eyes widened then narrowed. "You think you're really smart don't you? Well I told you to leave! You ain't getting in this building you brat!" 

"I would rather you not call me a brat again mister or otherwise you might be sorry." Lina said in a professional voice while she and Leviathan flashed their credentials at the man. 

Man stared at them both wide eyed and with his mouth hanging slightly open. He didn't know what to say to the two. Lina and Leviathan took that as a hint to go in. 

From inside the center Lina and Leviathan heard the rude man at the door yell at them, "I'm not in trouble am I?" The Inverse twins just chuckled in reply. 

"So where are we off to sis?" 

"I want to find out exactly who Vernas managed to Ozer out of this place. It doesn't seem very likely that Vernas would have an easy time getting in much less break someone out." 

Lina and Leviathan went to the receptionist in the main lobby to ask for information. 

"Hello you two must be the two STF agents that Mr. Wallas met at the entrance." A very startled female receptionist spoke timidly. 

"Wallas eh? So that's his name huh? Well we're looking to see if we can have a talk with the person charge of security around this place." 

"Ms. Redmon is in charge of security. But many STF officers have already talked to her about security. Is it really necessary to have you guys go talk to her as well? Does STF really need to be that thorough?" 

"How can we get a hold of Ms. Redmon?" 

"I can page her-" 

"Then do it, we don't have much time." Lina cut her off. Lina knew that if they found out that they weren't there under orders then they might not let her and Leviathan stay and get the information they wanted. 

"A-alright." 

The women paged the person in charged in security while Lev and Lina waited close by. 

***

Vernas was sitting at his chair doing some work when he his phone started to ring. 'Now who the hell is that?!' 

Vernas picked up the phone and spoke with a very gruff voice. "What?!" 

_"Dr. Vernas?" _

"Oh Jake, it's you. What's wrong you sound spooked." 

_"You told me to tell you if any of the Inverse kids came by the center right?"_

"Yes, why?" 

_"Well the Inverse twins are here in the center wanting to talk to the head of security."_

"Hmm… Thanks Jake, keep us informed if anything else happens there." 

_"Alright Dr. Vernas."_

Vernas hung up the phone and was about to go call for Ozer only he found out that Ozer was standing right behind him. 

"Well they are poking around there huh? I wonder what they are hoping to find." Ozer mused with an evil mischievous grin. 


	31. STF part 31

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Thirty-one, Ozer

By Relm

***

Lina and Leviathan we instructed to go wait in a room for Ms. Redmon. It was on of their soundproof rooms in the facility. Obviously the people of the center didn't want anyone to hear the Inverse's conversation with the head of security. 

"Nice place they got here. Kinda reminds me of an interrogation room." Leviathan comment as he paced around the room. 

"You know Lev, it probably is." 

Before Leviathan could answer Lina the door opened and a tall blond haired woman with brown eyes came in. "I'm Ms. Redmon could you both please take a seat." 

Lina and Leviathan did as instructed and sat down at the table. 

"So why exactly have you two been sent here?" 

"We've been sent to double check to see if any of the agents that were here before missed anything." 

"That's what the agents said the last ten times they were here." 

"Well if the people of STF openly shared their information then we wouldn't need to." Lina said dryly. 

"I see. But it's also important to keep some information away from some of the public. Like there are people in this facility that aren't aware that Ozer escaped. That's one of the main reasons why we are having this conversation in this room." 

"That's what I assumed." 

"So what is exactly that you want to know?" 

"Well how exactly could someone like Ozer escape from a place such as this?" 

Ms. Redmond sighed with discontent. "To be honest they shouldn't be able to escape in the first place." 

Lina and Leviathan both looked at each other and then back at Ms. Redmon. "What do you mean by that?" 

"What I mean is that it's almost completely impossible for someone to escape from this place even if they had outside help." 

"But Ozer did manage to escape. So how does that work?" 

"I said he couldn't with outside help, the only way he could have escaped is with inside help." 

"So you are saying that someone in this facility helped Ozer escape?" Leviathan asked. 'Why would someone want to help that deranged, psychopathic killer escape?' 

"Yes and it was probably more then one. We've been trying to find out who the moles are in the place but so far we've been unsuccessful. And even if we could we probably wouldn't be able to get much more of them then that Elbor Vernas was in charge of the escape." 

"You know that as for a fact?" 

"Yes we have him on surveillance cameras." 

"How about the damage done to the facility? How extensive was it?" 

"Every place that may have had any information on Ozer's biology or anything dealing with him was destroyed, including everyone that may have known anything about Ozer. Ozer was very careful to make sure that no one had any information on him. And I'm almost certain that Ozer had been planning this for quite some time." 

"Why do you say that?" 

"It was planned all too well. And even if they had many people working on the inside they wouldn't know that much of where everything was. I believe this escape plan had planned months prior." 

"I see. Would it been possible for us to see the damaged labs?" 

"Wait one moment." Ms. Redmon got up and left the room for a few minutes. She returned soon after nodded and motioning for them to follow her. 

***

Rezo sat hunched over his work in the lab on trying once again to analyze Ozer's DNA without success. He was really starting get frustrated with all this. No matter how had Rezo tried he couldn't find any solutions. Right now he was trying manually comparing Ozer's DNA sample to the STF's DNA bank of all of its agents. But the bad thing about doing that was that there are so many DNA samples to go through because of all the agents that worked for STF. 

Luna was doing a bit better, but not by much. There was obvious improvement, but it was going at a very slow pace. 

"Hello Grandfather." A voice said from behind. 

Rezo turned around and saw his grandson Kendan, Zelgadis' father standing sight behind him. 

"Oh hello Kenny. So taking a break from work to go visit your old grandpa?" 

"Yeah. Having any luck with what you've been doing?" 

"Luna looks like she's actually going to pull through. And I still can't make sense of this Ozer DNA mystery." 

Kendan peered over Rezo's shoulder to see what he was doing. "Gah! Grandpa you aren't going to get anywhere going about it that way! It'll take too long. The only way you'll get anywhere doing it that way is if you get really, really lucky." 

"Oh I know Ken. But unfortunately I've exhausted all my other options." 

"Are you serious?" 

"Yes. I've never seen DNA that can mutate and mutate back to it's original form at will! This DNA sample defies logic!" Rezo waved his hands in the air in frustration. 

Kendan frowned. "Really? It can do that? Well then no wonder you're having so much trouble with it." 

"So Kendan is there anything you wanted?" 

"Yes I wanted to ask you if you knew where Zelgadis was?" 

"Oh he went home. He finished his level three test today and he and the others were told to go home after they ate lunch." 

"He already went home? Well then I guess he must be tired from doing so many exams so close together." 

"Do you think he passed?" 

"If I know Zelgadis then I know he would." 

"Kendan do you know why it's so important for him and the others to become red level three agents?" 

Kendan was silent for a few moments. 

"Kendan? Do you know?" 

"Well I do know… only I'm not supposed to say." 

"Is the reason something that might end up being dangerous for Zelgadis?" 

"If everything is done correctly, then no. If it's not then it could be dangerous." 

Rezo raised an eyebrow at Kendan. "You mean you agreed to something that might be dangerous to him?" 

"Unfortunately I had to. Lillian and I weren't given much of a choice. It was either do this or nothing." 

"I wish you could tell me what it is." 

"I wish I could too. But you know how it is." 

"Yes I do." 

***

Lina and Leviathan were speechless as they walked through the completely charred and blackened rooms that had once held information on notorious and dangerous criminal Ozer. 

"Gee he really made sure that there was nothing left to tie back to him didn't he." Leviathan commented while poking what used to be plastic chair. 

"Yeah I can see that. Ms Redmond how many rooms were torched like this one?" 

"Quite a few including the Ozer's room. There wasn't any DNA traces left in the facility at all." 

The two of them with Ms. Redmond walked through a few of the rooms that be destroyed, but they noticed that after visiting them that each one more or less looked like the first one. 

"Ms. Redmond, was there any data on Ozer backed up on the facility's computers?" 

"On the day of Ozer's escape a virus infected our computers. Everything crashed and we lost everything." 

"Thank you Ms. Redmond for your assistance. We'll be leaving now." Leviathan said to Ms. Redmond as they split ways. Lev turned to his sister. "Well Lina it doesn't look like we are going to find out anything else from this place. So how about we head out now?" 

"And go where? I'm annoyed. I wanted to find out something interesting, but instead I just ended up confirming everything that I had been told. The only new thing that I found out was that it was a conspiracy from but even that I guessed prior hand." 

"Yeah it didn't seem likely that it was just Vernas that Ozer out of here." 

Lina frowned. "So what the hell are we going to now?" 

"Well if you want we can wander around here for a little while. Maybe you'll find something here after all?" 

Lina didn't answer she just grumbled. 

"There, there." Lev patted Lina on the back. 

Lina glared at him smacked his hand. "Alright let's go." Lina started to walk off ahead of Leviathan. 

"Where?" Leviathan asked sprinting to catch up to her. 

"I don't know, let's just go somewhere away from here." 

Leviathan shrugged and the two of the walked off. 

***

Vernas sat next to his phone waiting for a progress call from Jake one of his moles in the high security. He was starting to get annoyed that he was about ready to ignore the phone altogether when it rang. 

"Hello?" 

_"Dr. Vernas?"_

"Hello Jake what do you have report?" 

_"The two of them have left."_

"Did they find anything?" 

_"They found out just as much as the other agents did when they came here."_

"So basically they found nothing." 

_"Nope. They didn't find-"_

Suddenly everything went dead on Jake's end. 

"Jake?" 

It remained silent on the other end. 

"Jake are you still there?" 

_"They came back."_

"Who came back?" 

_"Those two kids came back. Lina and Leviathan Inverse. Sorry I gotta go!" (Click)_

Vernas frowned at the phone. 

"What's wrong Vernas?" Ozer asked with an amused smile. 

"Well Jake said the two of them found nothing." 

"Oh what a pity…" 

"But he had to cut the conversation short." 

"Oh really? Why?" 

"Because the two Inverse twins came back." 

"Did they really?" Ozer smiled a twisted smile. 'Perhaps they will give me a challenge.' He evilly cackled out loud. 

Vernas just shook his head. 'Freak.' 

***

Lina and Leviathan looked at the strange person who seemed to freak out when he saw them. 

"What's with that guy?" 

Leviathan shrugged. "So why exactly are we back here again?" 

"I want to ask about something." 

"What?" 

"I wanted to ask about what they fed Ozer." 

"Why would you want to ask something like that?" 

"I have a hunch that's all." 

Leviathan shook his head. 

The two of them went to go and see about what things exactly were fed to Ozer. 

"Ozer? Nothing." The person in charge of all the immates meals said to them in a rushed manor and he went about yelling things at people and getting things organized. 

"Nothing? You didn't feed him anything?!" 

"Nope. We started to at the beginning when he was first here giving him our standard menu for the all the criminals here." 

"Then what happened?" 

"He didn't eat. Or rather he refused to eat. The doctors around here started to get worried about him even if he's worth worrying about. But when they checked things out it seems that Ozer didn't need food to live. So they stopped feeding him and kept a good eye on his health to make sure he didn't die. Kinda freaky huh?" 

Lina nodded. 

"Well I got to get going now." The guy walked off yelling something to a guy he was doing something wrong. 

"So Lina is that what you wanted to hear?" 

"Yup. I was just curious about something. If he doesn't need to eat then that would imply that if he's even part human then it's not his genetic base." 

"Okay but why did you want to know that?" 

"I was just curious that's all." 

"Oh well. How about we go back to the headquarters?" 

"Sure why not?" 

And once again the two head out of the building, but this time they had someone following them. 


	32. STF part 32

_Well there finally got all of my fics up to date on ff.net. [or rather the fics I am posting there.] I know people have made comments to my 'spelling' errors. I'll admit I do have horrible spelling and grammar but most of my mistakes made in my fics are in fact typing errors. Such as forgetting to type a few letters in a word or even forgetting to type words all together. And usually I'm in such a rush to get things done quickly I either don't have time to re-read everything over or if I do I don't catch the mistakes because I'm doing a quick read over. Sorry if this bothers or hinders anyones reading enjoyment. I'll try to be more careful with my typing from now on. Thanks for all the lovely reviews everyone! ^__________________^_

STF, Slayers Task Force

Part Thirty-two, Traffic Jam

By Relm

***

_Author's notes: This fic has been causing me problems. I've been getting stuck quite often partly because I get myself lost in where I am in the fic. *shakes head* This part isn't the best kinda a little random filler for the story. Meaning it's almost pointless. *shrugs* Oh well I'll try to get things moving more smoothly in the next parts._

***

Lina and Leviathan weren't aware that someone was following them as they went to their jet bikes. 

"So Lina what do you want to do now? We've pretty much got the whole day to do whatever we want since the others all went home." 

"I don't know!" Lina whined. "Don't you have any ideas?" 

Leviathan shrugged. "We could go back to HQ." 

"And do what?" 

"I don't know, work?" 

"On what?!" 

Leviathan sighed. "Well I guess we could go out and do something. Like go see a movie maybe?" 

"We're supposed to be on call Lev." 

"So let them call if they need us. When was the last time you did something fun?" Leviathan asked Lina. She in turned grin and was about to answer but Leviathan cut her off. "That didn't include beating people up or training?" He glared at her. 

Lina scowled. "Fine I haven't done much lately. But that's just because of this whole case." 

"See then? We should go do something." Leviathan insisted. 

"Lev when we aren't in HQ and on-call but not patrolling we're supposed to be working. Not skipping out and goofing off." 

Leviathan raised an eyebrow. "And since when did you start playing everything by the book? Any other time I would have asked you, you would have said yes. So what makes this time so different?" 

"This isn't a normal case Lev. We have a very brilliant and deranged scientist helping out an extremely sick, sadistic and dangerous criminal. Lots of lives are at stake and I don't think it would be right it I decided to go and goof off someplace and ignore my work." 

"Lina we're not the ones that have to deal with Ozer. We're not the ones that have to catch him. What we have to do isn't dangerous like that and there are many other agents working too. This investigation doesn't rely solely on us. Our job is to oversee the LPD's agent training. And besides you have done more work on the Ozer/Vernas case then any agent of our status. You deserve a break Lina." 

Though Lina did hear Levithan's little speech she still didn't agree with him. "But I still don't think-" 

"Fine I'm contacting Dad and asking him what he thinks." Leviathan said pulling out a separate communicator. It was one Blitz had given him after that Felmen incident. Basically wanted to make sure that no matter what Lina or Leviathan could contact him if they were in trouble. Blitz had naturally enough given Lina one of these communicators as well. The difference with this one rather then the normal standard STF communicators are that you can't block the signal and it could only reach one number. And that number was the one to Blitz's communicator. 

_"Hello, is there something wrong?"_ Blitz answered. A hint of concern was evident in the green agent's voice. 

"Can Lina and I take the rest of the day off? The LPDs went home for the day and Lina is going nuts with work. She refuses to do anything else." Leviathan said sardonically. 

Lina glared at her twin brother. 

_"Since the LPDs are gone for the rest of the day I'd say go for it. And Lina has been working way too hard lately and definitely deserves a break more then anyone. She's done way more work and helped out the case more then practically all the agents working on the case! So go for it, take the rest of the day off. If anyone complains they can complain to me. Just make sure you two have your communicators on you just in case something does happen."_

"Okay thanks Dad. See ya later." Leviathan switched off his communicator. 

"So what did Dad say?" Lina asked. 

"We can have the rest of the day off provided we keep our communicators on us just in case." 

Lina narrowed her eyes at her twin brother. "And how do I knew that you aren't lying because you really want to see what new Skyla Terrance movie?" 

Skyla Terrance was Leviathan's favorite actress. According to Leviathan, very few women were as beautiful and as lovely as her. 

Leviathan scowled. "I wasn't lying and I don't care what movie we see! And that's even if we even see a movie at all!" 

Lina rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever Leviathan. So should we get going?" Lina suggest getting on her jet bike. 

Leviathan complied and they started up their engines. The two of the drove off not knowing of another jet bike tailing them close behind. 

***

De Tanga walking into the special care unit with not a single emotion displayed on his face. 

"Oh hell De Tanga!" Have you come by to visit Lina gain?" One of the yellow agents assisting Rezo asked as De Tanga came into the room. 

"Yes I am." De Tanga's voice contained as much emotion as his face. 

"Well I'll have you know that Luna is doing much better now." The yellow agent said walking off. 

Rather then flag down that agent or any other agent De Tanga went in search of Rezo to find the answers he wanted. He found Rezo standing over Luna whom was still bedridden but was no longer hooked up to the machines. 

"Dr. Rezo? How's Luna doing?" De Tanga asked approaching Rezo. 

"Actually she's doing extremely well. Her body has finally recognized the toxin and her antibodies are now fighting it. We're giving her treatments to increase the strength of her antibodies and everything seems to be going well." 

This was a shook to De Tanga. He hadn't heard any news concerning the break through Rezo had with the toxin. "She's going to be okay?" De Tanga asked more asking himself then Rezo. 

"If nothing else bad happens, then yes Luna is going to be okay. It's going to take a while, but we're expecting a full recovery from her." Rezo smiled patting the blue agent on the back. Like most of the people whom had been working in the special care unit working on Luna, Rezo was aware of Luna and De Tanga's relationship. He knew Luna and De Tanga were more then friends. 'I wonder if Blitz is aware of how De Tanga feels about his eldest daughter? But I know that De Tanga would make a fine son-in-law.' Rezo mentally chuckled. But he wasn't going to dare say anything to Blitz. At times Blitzfaust Inverse could be a very unpredictable person. [Relm: Yes, Blitzfaust Inverse, that is technically Blitz's full name. People usually call him Blitz for short] 

***

Vernas tried to get back to his work, but he was having quite a bit of difficulty. His mind was occupied with thoughts of his last conversation with Jake. He had wondered why Jake had suddenly hung up so fast. Vernas briefly glanced over to the phone as he attempted to work. Though it didn't help matters that Ozer was sitting in a chair nearby constantly staring at Vernas. 

"Ozer don't you have anything else better to do?" 

"Nope." 

'Freak.' Vernas shook his head and went back to his calculations. But he still glanced at the phone every now and then. 

"Vernas if you are that curious about what Jake is up to then why don't you just give him a call and find out?" Ozer suggested sweetly. 

Vernas gave a funny look. 'Now what's he so amused about?' "I don't know what he's doing and I don't want to risk possibly blowing his cover." 

Ozer shrugged and went back to staring. 

After an hour or so the phone rang. But before Vernas had the chance to answer it, Ozer picked it up instead. 

"Hello?" Ozer grinned as he talked. 

_"Dr. Vernas?"_

"No I'm sorry, Dr. Vernas is indisposed at the moment. But you can talk to me instead if you'd like." Ozer was far too gleeful. But then it wasn't rare that he talked on the phone as it was. 

_"Oh Mister Ozer!_ (The person on the line laughs nervously) _Ahem. Ah this is Jake reporting with the current situation."_

"Hello Jake how are you?" 

_"Um, fine I suppose I-"_

"Really? You don't sound to good. And your voice is so low and scratchy. You aren't getting a cold are you?" 

_"I just don't want anyone to hear. The twins have gone into a movie theatre. I don't know what for but I'm going to have a little surprise for them when they come out."_

"Oh goody! I love surprises! But make sure you don't kill them." 

_"Alright I wont- wait a minute! You don't want me to kill them?"_

"Well don't try to kill them. If you do by accident I wont be angry. I'd just like to toy with them a little bit so I'd rather have them alive. I'd like to see how much of a challenge they can give me. So don't try to kill them, but try and make things a little 'difficult' for them." 

_"Alright Mister Ozer."_

"Thank you Jake, and make sure you take care of yourself now. Bye bye." Ozer hung up and started to hum that twisted and off key song again that he was humming earlier. 

"So how's Jake?" 

"He sounds like he has a cold. I sure hope he isn't coming down with something. I really like him." Ozer paused his humming to say and then continued humming again. 

"No I mean about those two Inverse brats." 

"He's going to have a surprise for them but I told him not to kill them." 

"Why?! If Jake could get rid of them now then they wouldn't interfere with our plans! It would make things a lot easier not having to worry about them getting in our way." Vernas exclaimed. 

"What fun would challenges be if they were all easy?" Ozer left on that note humming the same song as before. 

***

Lina and Leviathan ended up heading to the closest movie theatre that was only a few blocks away. And what movie did they end up seeing? 'Tainted' the newest Skyla Terrance movie. It wasn't likely that they would have seen anything else, not with Leviathan dictating on what movie there were going to watch. 

Lina had no problems with the movie, it's just that she was starting to get sick of the roles Skyla played. No matter what she was always this some sort of action hero fighting some evil foe. She was never anything else. Her characters were always tough and strong. And since 'Tainted' was an action flick naturally enough Skyla's character reflected that. 

"Wasn't that the best movie! Skyla's acting was awesome in this one!" Leviathan gushed one they were out of the theatre. 

"Well it should have been, she practically plays the same damn character in every movie she does." Lina said against her better judgment. 

"She does not! Her acting is flawless because she's a fantastic actress! And her characters are never the same! How dare you even suggest such a thing!" Leviathan exclaimed obviously offended by Lina's comment. 

Lina suppressed the laugh that was trying to escape her throat. She knew she would get this reaction out of him. You couldn't insult his precious Skyla without pissing him off and paying the consequences. "Alright, alright Leviathan I'm sorry." 

Leviathan just snorted but didn't respond. 

"So should we head off home now? It's practically dinner time." Lina suggested looking at her watch. 

Leviathan didn't respond (he was still peeved about Lina's insults to Skyla) but did get on his bike. 

Lina shook her head and got on her bike as well. 

The two of them started their engines and sped off home. It was when they reached their first red light that they noticed a problem. Both Lina and Leviathan tried to slow their bikes down with their brakes as their approached the light but the bikes' speed didn't decrease. 

"Lev there's something wrong with my bike!" Lina radioed over to Leviathan. 

"Mine too! The brakes aren't working!" Leviathan radioed back. 

With the upcoming red light the twins knew there in trouble. Now if they didn't put their feet back on the gas pedal their bikes should slow down till they stopped. But that would take quite a few blocks and they were already going at a high speed as it was. And they were nearly at the red light and the intersection looked to be pretty busy with cars and other jet bikes. 

Luckily they both had red agent training so they were both very good driving their bikes. With some very risky driving the two of them managed to just get through the intersection without hitting anyone. Unfortunately their driving spooked a few other drivers and caused them to have accidents. But luckily it wasn't too bad and no one seemed to be hurt from what Leviathan and Lina could tell as they continued speeding off ahead. 

"We'd better make sure we take a route with very little traffic stops." Lina radioed Leviathan. 

"Roger. Follow me." 

Leviathan leaded them through a twisting route with as little traffic lights as they could manage. Only problem was that they had to go over the occasional hill and that sped them up a few times when they wanted to slow down. 

Eventually their bikes came to a stop. Leviathan's stopped first, while Lina's continued a block ahead. Once off their bikes both Lina and Leviathan wheeled their bikes over to each other. 

"What the hell happened?!" Leviathan exclaimed. 

"Our brakes didn't work." 

"I know that! But why did they suddenly stop working like that?! They were working just fine before we went into the theatre." Leviathan mused looked over both his and Lina's bikes. Lina joined him examining the bikes. The two of them eventually came to a startling conclusion. 

"Someone tampered with the bikes." Lina pointed out the handy work that had been done to their bikes. 'Looks like someone must have done this when we were watching that movie.' 

"Ah man so we've got someone trying to kill us now!' Leviathan groaned. 

"Lev when don't we have someone trying to kill us? You know what we have to do now don't you?" 

"What?" 

"Call Dad to get a ride home. We're too far from home to walk." 

Leviathan groaned again so Lina decided to call her Dad this time. 

_"Hello?"_

"Hi Dad, it's Lina. Could you arrange to have someone pick us up? Someone kinda tried to kill us and now our bikes aren't working too well." 


End file.
